The Perfect Crime
By Cowboy George
Eureka was a boomtown in the 1870s with a population of 10,000 people. Every mining town had at least one claim to fame, and so it was with Eureka.
Lead silver ore was first smelted successfully in this proud town. By today's method it was quite primitive how they got the job done, but they did lead the way for future accomplishments.
The mining camp was busy with smelters and many tall chimneys dotting the landscape. At night it was said to resemble a burning inferno with the red hot slag pouring from the dozens of ovens ~ and the hills around town were just as busy with the sound of the woodchopper's axe and the many kilns making charcoal both day and night. Teams of horses by the hundreds were busy hauling wood, first to the kiln, and then hauling the charcoal to smelters. When the wood was put into the kiln it took about 10 days for the wood to become charcoal, which was almost pure carbon, and charcoal burned much hotter than wood, and was said to last longer.
Most of us, I am sure, have used charcoal at least once to cook a steak and have witnessed how long it took for the coals to burn down!
Lee Singleton was employed by the Richmond Company as a laborer whose job it was to feed charcoal into one of the immense furnaces. The Richmond Company was one of the biggest in Eureka and had five furnaces.
Lee Singleton and John Murphy were not friends, but both were working at the same job as a team. As time went on, trouble was brewing between the two. One time Murphy, who was the bully, hit Singleton and was always finding fault with him, calling him names. Murphy was an ill-natured man, not having any close friends. So, when Murphy came up missing, not a single person gave a care.
Singleton left the area to go cut wood. But what happened to Murphy? No one in the Eureka area missed either Singleton or the ill-tempered Murphy.
In 1877, a cowboy, while searching for stray cows, came upon Singleton's old abandoned cabin in the hills about 12 miles from town, and decided to look inside for whatever reason he had. And what he found scared the hell out of him! There, lying on a bunk, was the dead body of Singleton. Further examination of the corpse told the cowboy that the body was dead for several weeks.
The cowboy returned to his outfit and told of the unidentified corpse he found and two of his fellow cowboy returned and buried the body.
But what happened to Murphy?
About six months later, on June 17, 1877, a hunter stumbled across the same cabin that the cowboy did six months earlier. The cabin was completely empty, except for broken furniture and a couple of built-in bunks. He did find one little black book that was wedged between the wall and one of the bunks. When he opened the book and started reading, he was stunned by the fact that he was reading a murder confession of a dead man.
And now...the rest of the story...
"My name is Lee Singleton, and I was born in Maryland, and I fought in the Civil War and I was wounded twice. Following the war and the death of my parents, I came out west and got a job working on the Union Pacific Railroad. After the completion of the railroad, I came to the White Pine area and then to Eureka, where I found employment at one of the smelters.
My shift partner was a man called John Murphy, a very overbearing man who constantly insulted me ~ and one day he struck me, also. And he even called me a coward ~ and for this I will never forgive him. I just kept silent and waited for my revenge.
"My revenge came when the ore wheelers were out of the way and Murphy and I were alone at the furnace. When Murphy stopped to scoop up a shovel full of coal, I hit him on the head with a shovel and dragged him to the open furnace and threw his body in. And then I covered it with coal and ore. I don't know whether he was dead or alive when I threw him into the furnace, but I am sure the fumes would have killed him instantly. It took me just fifteen minutes to complete this ghastly act, and when the night boss came by, I told him that Murphy went home because he said he was sick.
"I was sure the boss suspected something was wrong, but he never said anything.
"After I committed the crime, I was filled with remorse and was haunted by fear. I kept seeing the body in my imagination and when barring out time came and the fires were down, I would look into the furnace to see. But not a thing was visible. I could not keep away from the feed hole, and I would peer into it at every opportunity. I feared that I would expose my deed by this phobia, so I left the smelter and went into the hills to cut wood.
"Me and my new partner built a cabin to live in, and after we exhausted the wood in our area, I decided to go back East. But after a year's wandering I came back to Eureka and I was still haunted by my awful act. I still am terrified that some remnant of the body can be seen. So, I decided to look into the furnace as soon as I get off this train.
"For two weeks I have been going to the furnace every night to satisfy myself that no one suspects me for my awful crime. I was finally driven away by a night watchman who thought I was insane. I then decided to take my life, so I went and got me a bottle of laudanum, then I went to my cabin in the hills and wrote of my confession and took the fatal dose."
Investigation proved that Singleton's statements were true and if Singleton didn't weaken and write his own confession he would have committed The Perfect Crime!
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Last updated on 03/16/08 05:58 PM