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Editor's note: This is Part 2 of a two-part series of columns by Lou Bernard on a famous murder in our area's history. Part 1 was published in The Express on April 22.
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In my last column, I wrote about the brutal murder of William Clendenen, who was found bludgeoned and shot in a Wayne Township railroad tower in 1903. I'm not going to repeat much of that here; it's all been written in the past if you'd like to read it. But I am writing this as a two-parter, because I'm excited about some new information.
Now, when I say new, I mean I just recently found it. It comes from 1910. And it began with a railroad employee named Chaney.
The Clinton Democrat reported thoroughly on the Chaney story in the March 10, 1910 edition. A railroad telegraph operator named William Chaney had been found tied up, claiming to have been attacked and beaten by two armed men. The problem is that it never actually happened.
Chaney was questioned by railroad authorities and finally cracked, admitting that he'd made the whole thing up. He wanted to come across as a big hero, the survivor of an attack, and maybe get promoted instead of spending all his time in remote telegraph towers. Instead he wound up getting fired, with very little possibility of ever getting another job with the railroad company.
No. I am not going to suggest that William Clendenen beat himself to death with a railroad tool for a promotion.
But in the same issue of The Clinton Democrat, in reference to the Chaney story, a front-page article appeared. The headline read "Old Story Revived."
A Lock Haven policeman, while talking about the Chaney incident, went public with the information that the Clendenen murderer had never been discovered, and was now dead.
The officer was not named in the article. He was quoted, however, stating that he knew who had killed William Clendenen, and the killer was himself dead by this point, seven years later.
"There is now no doubt as to the identity of the person who murdered Clendenen," the officer was quoted as saying. "There is no good reason why his name should be made public and it probably never will be, for he has been dead for a number of years. His death attracted much attention at the time by reason of its being so tragic. I was told that a feud had long existed between the slayer and his victim."
"Probably never will be." Challenge accepted, Clinton Democrat.
He claimed to have been given the information by an informant, who also was not named. He said that he was certain of the informant's information. And The Clinton Democrat noted that he had, in 1903, revealed his information to the railroad company, but it hadn't been followed up because there wasn't a lot of supporting evidence.
At this point, let me make a list of what we now know. The murderer was someone Clendenen knew, most likely a co-worker, and most likely also from Wayne Township. He died at some point between 1903 and 1910. As he had been dead "a number of years" in March 1910, it's probably safe to narrow it down to sometime between 1904 and, say, 1907 or so. And the murderer seems to have died in a very tragic, highly publicized way.
You're thinking this is the part where I reveal a name, somebody who fits this description. And on that one, I'm going to have to let you down -- I still genuinely don't know. I have a couple of possible suspects, but nothing I can prove yet. I only just found this article in The Democrat, while I was looking for something about the women's suffrage movement. I stumbled on this by accident, which happens to me a lot, so I don't have it figured out yet.
But I know more than I did. And I'm keeping my eyes open. Sooner or later, you'll see me write another column about this murder. Sooner or later, I'll discover a story about a Wayne Township railroad employee who died brutally in the early 1900s, and I'll make the connection.
And then, maybe, the murder of William Clendenen will be solved for good.
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Lou Bernard is a Lock Haven resident with a keen interest in the history of this area. He is adult services coordinator at Ross Library and may be reached at ross13@rosslibrary.org or 570-748-3321.