Book examines Bloomville's murderous past
Sep. 21—A new book retells some of the sensational stories that were printed in the Bloomville Mirror newspaper in the 1800s.
The book, titled "Murder in the Mirror: Tales of Madness and Misery from the Bloomville Mirror 1852-1871," is written by Samantha Misa, the director's assistant at the Delaware County Historical Association. Misa will talk about her book and sign copies of the book at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24, at the DCHA museum at 46549 state Route 10 in Delhi.
"I decided to write this book after finding so many interesting stories in old editions of the paper while doing research," Misa said in an email. "Several people told me that I should write a book about haunted locations in Delaware County, but it was hard to identify those types of spots. So I figured, what is the key ingredient in haunted history? Usually it's the location of something tragic, so I decided to write this book that covered the types of events that breed scary stories."
Misa said she spent a year reading the newspaper articles and jotting down interesting stories about murders, suicides and major accidents that were written about. "The Bloomville Mirror reported on a surprising number of suicides in graphic detail, and also a startling amount of accidental deaths from falling, runaway horses and even lightning strikes," she said.
Misa said unlike today, newspapers of the past "seemed to revel in the gruesomeness of what happened. The newspapers loved to report every gory detail, with little concern for the privacy of the family. In some cases, the papers would send someone to a crime scene to get a first-hand account of what it looked like for the paper. Any murder was a big deal and a huge news story, often prompting publication of the entire transcript of the case and trial for readers."
After compiling her notes, she said, she then "had to do a lot of research to find out more about the stories, since a lot of the original newspaper articles did not provide all the information."
One case that interested her was the murder of Louisa B. Fero in Davenport in 1868, she said. "Her husband Elisha reported that an unknown man had broken into their house at night and demanded money. In the ensuing scuffle, Lousia was shot in the head and killed," she said. "However, officials could find no evidence of a break-in and no signs of violence on Elisha, leading them to believe that he had shot his wife. The local coroner ended up exhuming her body to find out more, but they were never able to prove if the fractures found on her skull were from blows to the head prior to being shot or if her skull had fractured due to the bullet wound. No one was ever convicted of Louisa Fero's murder."
Misa has also co-authored "The Life of a Civil War Private: Edward Hoyt Diary & Letters" with Tim Duerden and Angela Gaffney, and wrote "Witches of the Catskills" in 2019.
Vicky Klukkert, staff writer, can be reached at vklukkert@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7221.
