SETH STANLEY FOUND DEAD

The Ridgeway Journal Thu, Mar 17, 1921 ·Page 4

Failed to Return Home Wednesday Nightand Found in Well Thursday Morning.

BELIEVED BY MANY A SUICIDE.

From Bethany Republican

Bethany was dumbfounded last Thursday morning when the word was passed around that the body of Seth D. Stanley had been found in the well in the marble yard building. He had cometo town last Wednesday night to have a talk with Jesse Little. He had the talk with Little in the Beeks Barber Shop, later went to the Siegenthaler drug store and got his paper, which was probably the last time he was seen alive. He went to his office at the marble yard, and the nightwatch finding the door unlocked about ten o'clock, Seth called to him from the back of the shop and told him he was there. So far as is known, this is the last time he spoke to anyone.

When he did not come home during the night, Mrs. Stanley became alarmed and arose at four o'clock, and looked all over the place for him. Then she enlisted the services of neighbors. B.P. Sigler came to town and found Stanley's car near the marble yard, and he and others found Mr. Stanley's coat , vest, and cap in the office, and later found the body in the well about 7:30 o'clock. Aubrey Cushman secured a grappling hook, and he, Karl Roleke, and others got the body out of the well.

Coroner Harding was called and made an examination, and then the body was taken to the Haas undertaking parlors. A coroner's jury consisting of Wm. Foster, Toad Planck, C.T. Webb, W.L. Webb, Bert Layson, and J.C. Ray was impanelled and an inquest held Thursday afternoon, which rendered the following verdict:

We, the undersigned jurors, impaneled and sworn on the 10th day of March, 1921, at the township of Bethany, in the county of Harrison, by E.F. Harding, coroner, to diligently inquire and true presentment make how and by whom Seth D. Stanley, whose body was found in a well in the Stanley Marble Shop on the 10th day of March, 1921, came to his death, having viewed the body and heard the evidence, do find that the deceased came to his death by methods and means unknown to this Jury.

The fact that there were two places on Stanley's head that showed where he had been struck with two severe blows, and also the fact that his hands hhad been wired together, as well as a bag of sand tied around his neck with the well rope, has led many people to believe that he met with foul play. Other indications were that it was suicide, and many have accepted this verdict. But to many his death will remain a mystery.

S.D. Stanley was the owner of 400 acres of good land in Fox Creek township, The Bethany Marble Works, and one of the nicest homes in Bethany. While he was involved to a certain extent, testimony before the coroner's jury showed that his liabilities were not pressing and that financial worries need not have been the cause of his death.

Mr. Stanley was very prominent in lodge circles, being probably the highest in Masonic circles of anyone in Harrison County. He also was a member of Miriam Lodge, I.O.O. F., and other Odd Fellow orders, a member of the K. P. Lodge, and of other various organizations.

Seth D. Stanley was born in Harrison county January 6, 1870, and died March 9, 1921, aged 51 years, 2 months, and 3 days. A short prayer service was held at the home Saturday morning, March 12th, and the body was taken to Sharon Chapel, about eleven miles east of Bethany, where services were held, conducted by Rev. W.O. Dotson and assisted by Dr. W.S. Welsh and Rev. Floyd Morgan, and the interment was in the cemetery nearby. Members of the I.O.O.F. and K.P. were pallbearers, and the cortege was under the escourt of Bethany Lodge No. 97 A.F. & A. M. and burial by Bethany Commandery No. 42, K.T.

He is survived by his widow and four daughters, Mrs. Harlan Maple, who lives near Blythedale; Mrs. Israel Chaney who lives near Bethany; and Misses Eva and Grace Stanley, who with their mother, resides in Bethany. Stanley has two sisters, Mrs. Ellen Griffin, who lives near Princeton, and Mrs. Hester Hudson who lives near Gilman City, and one brother, M.E. Stanley, resident of Wishita, Kas.