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The story hit the newspapers during the autumn of 1903: Not only had a home burned to the ground, but the owner had vanished without a trace. The whole thing contained shades of the Bermuda Triangle or Amelia Earhart, and it happened not far from here.
The man’s name was David Barber. He lived with his wife on their farm about a mile and a half south of Driftwood, Cameron County, over a century ago.
On Oct. 23, 1903, their home caught fire. It began with the kerosene they had stored in the house, according to the only eyewitness, Barber’s wife. This was common; back in the days when heat and light were pretty much dependent on having fire in your home, buildings were burning down every hour on the hour. It was a big enough event that it was reported in the Evening Express that day, and also the Clinton County Times a week later. As the Express said with sensitivity, “From the incoherent statements of the grief-crazed wife, it is believed that the fire started from an explosion of kerosene.”
There was some confusion in the initial reports. Early stories referred to him as “John Barber,” and then later follow-ups called him “David Barber.” You thought Twitter was bad? Things haven’t changed all that much.
Anyway, Barber and his wife fled the house safely. They had no simple means of putting the fire out, and the fire department hadn’t shown up yet – their farm was not easy to get to. It’s unclear if the fire department even knew there was a fire going on; in 1903, the postal service may have been the fastest way of notifying them.
So you know how, in school, they always taught you never to re-enter a burning building? Barber was apparently absent that day. He remembered that he’d stashed money in the home, and decided it would be a great idea to run back in for it. The Times said, “His faithful companion pled with him not to go, but turning a deaf ear to her remonstrances he entered the burning building and perished with his gold.”
It was the last anyone ever saw of David Barber. The home burnt up, and he never came out.
The mystery comes after.
Three weeks later, on Nov. 13, 1903, the Clinton County Times ran a follow-up piece reporting on the subsequent investigation and the results. “Aged Man’s Fate Mysterious,” the headline announced. “No Human Bones Found In Ashes of Burned Home.”
After the fire had been extinguished and the ashes had cooled, a search for Barber’s remains was undertaken. And unsuccessful.
“Nothing that in any way resembled human bones was to be found,” reported the Times, “and the fate of the old man is a profound mystery.”
So, it might be reasonable to assume that the body burned beyond recognition. But there should have been something – Barber’s dog died in the blaze and his bones were found. If the bones of the dog weren’t burned beyond recognition, Barber’s bones also shouldn’t have been.
His wife insisted that Barber, seeing his entire life’s savings go up in flames, went insane and ran out the back of the house, into the woods. Others agreed with her; friends and neighbors all said that they believed the same thing. Nobody, apparently, had the heart to suggest that maybe Barber grabbed his money, got out the back, had a mid-life crisis on the spot and took off without her.
The Times suggested that he’d perished in the woods after the fire, which is a possibility: “If the old man escaped the ravages of the fire he probably met a more merciful death in the mountain for he could not possibly survive so long without shelter and sustenance.”
David Barber’s fate remains a mystery to this day. So does his first name, for that matter. Did he die in the fire? In the forest afterward? Did he run away, change his name, and begin a new life?
We’ll never know. But it’s speculating about all these little mysteries that adds to the fun.
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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 748-3321.