Found Dead in Well

The Post-Telegraph Wed, Mar 16, 1921 ·Page 1

Seth Stanley Found With Hands Shackled And Weight Tied To Neck-Thought To Be Suicide

Bethany, Mo., March 10- With his hands tied tightly together with wire and a sack of cement tied to his neck, the body of Seth Stanley, widely known business man and farmer of Bethany, was found at 7 o'clock this morning in a well in the rear of his place of business.

A coroner's jury this afternoon returned a verdict that Stanley had committed suicide, but the general opinion in Bethany and vicinity is that Stanley met with foul play.

Stanley was about 55 years old, married and had four daughters, two of who are married, the other two living at the family home in Bethany. He was proprieter of the Bethany Marble and Granite Works, in addition to managing about 400 acres of farm land in this vicinity.

Stanley was to have met a traveling salesman for a granite firm at the depot here last night. He parked his motor car in the rear of his shop and proceeded to the depot on foot. The salesman missed his train at Maryville, Mo., so Stanley returned to his shop. He did not return home and persons in the neighborhood noticed that the motor car remained in the rear of the shop all night. This morning search was instituted for Stanley and he was found by employees at the bottom of the well. His coat and hat were on the ground near the edge of the well.

There were no marks upon the body except scratches on the face, which probably were made by the fall into the pit. Bethany citizens are greatly aroused by the tragedy.

Bethany, Mo., March 12- A careful investigation of the circumstances surrounding the death of Seth Stanley, whose body was found in a well here Thursday morning, failed to uncover any substantial indication that his death was due to other means than by his own hands.

It is true that member's of Stanley's family and friends are of the opinion that suicide was not the cause of death but, up to this time, nothing of a definite nature has been developed that would substantiate their claims, except the unusual circumstances surrounding Stanley's death. The body was taken from a cistern in Stanley's marble works early Thursday morning. Around the dead man's neck was a rope to which was tied with a slip knot, a sack of sand. Around his left wrist was twisted one end of a piece of wire and at the other end was a loop thru which the right hand apparently had been drawn when the body was being taken from the cistern. If both wrists were tied with the wire when Stanley's body was in the cistern, his hands would have been bound about a foot apart.

Some who have examined the wire and loops at its ends are of the opinon that the one which covered the right wrist was sufficiently large to permit the right hand to have been thrust through it after the loop was made.

There were a few abrasions on the face and head and these at first, were thought to have been the result of a blow or blows inflicted by some other person. However, physicians, who have examined the body, are certain that bruises were sustained when the head and face came in contact with the wall of the cistern.

The noose about the neck had been drawn tight and an autopsy on the body developed the fact that there was little water in the lungs.

Had death occurred before the body entered the water, doctors say, there would have been no water in the lungs. But the rope tied tightly around the neck considerable water in the lungs would have indicated drowning.

Rufus Beeks, deputy sheriff, instituted a search for Stanley after the latter's family became alarmed when he did not return home Wednesday night. Beeks says there was no evidence of a struggle in the marble works and that the dirt floor showed no indication of the presence of more than one person. A nightwatchman stated that after he found the marble works door unlocked abput 10:15 o'clock Wednesday night, and that after he entered the building someone called to him and he recognized the voice of Stanley. Stanley said, according to the nightwatchman, that everything was all right, and the other man left immediately.

Beeks says that he searched Stanley's pockets and found the dead man's watch which had stopped running at 9:45 o'clock, apparently an hour before the nightwatchman talked to Stanley. Stanley's pocketbook containing money and a number of personal letters also were found on the body.

Financial difficulty might have been a suicide motive, although it was not known that Stanley was in a condition that would have caused unusual embarrassment. He was considered wealthy, although it was said within a week of his death he discovered that, through poor collections, he did not have sufficient funds with which to promptly meet his bills.