The Umbrella Peddler Burglaries
In 1874, a group of men from Philadelphia posed as umbrella peddlers, traveling from town to town and learning of who may have money they could steal. When they robbed the Bond farm in Milton, the family fought back. Father and son both suffered gun shot wounds before subduing the burglar - and Mrs Bond, after tending their wounds the best she could, and binding the burglar with rope, jumped on a horse and rode 6 miles to town for help.
The intruder, critically wounded, was then kept in their home under guard, until he could recover enough to be moved to prison, but his accomplices came back to rescue him. Still critically wounded, the "rescue", killed the intruder, and his accomplices buried him in the woods three miles away, where two young boys discovered his grave two days later.
Samuel Bond woke up in the middle of a Saturday night in June 1874, to find a strange man in his room. As Bond grabbed the intruder, a false set of whiskers was pulled off. The two men wrestled and struggled, waking Mrs Bond. As the burglar pulled Samuel towards the stairs, Mrs Bond grabbed his leg, and the intruder knocked her to the ground, while Samuel pummeled the man in the face. The two men continued to grapple, before tumbling down the stairs.
The noise woke the Bond's son, just as the burglar had an opportunity to pull his pistol, and aim. Mrs Bond saw his intent, and was able to push the gun to the side, sending the bullet into the hip of her son. As the intruder fired again, he struck Samuel in the elbow.
The son ran out and grabbed a club, just as Mrs Bond was able to retrieve the gun. She fired twice, but without good aim. Her son returned, and beat the intruder with the club until he was senseless.
Mrs Bond then bound the intruder with rope, and then she attended to the wounds of her husband and son as best as she could, before jumping on a horse and riding eight miles into Milton to get help. Dr Billings and Constable Watts were both awoken, and without waiting for either of them, Mrs Bond rushed back to her husband and son, who were suffering from their injuries. The trip into town and back had taken just over an hour.
When the Doctor and the Constable arrived at the home, they found that Mr Bond and his son would recover, but the burglar was in critical condition. The fall down the steps had broken three of his ribs, and the blows from the club has broken his arm and fractured his skull.
The ropes binding him were removed, and he was placed upon a bed. Dr Billing tended his wounds, and within an hour or two the intruder felt well enough to tell his story.
He identified himself as George Meyers, and admitted that he was one of a gang of three professional burglars who had been in the home that evening. His accomplices had apparently fled when they heard the struggle upstairs.
The three men, Meyers, Jake Schell, and Wilson Fry, traveled through the country as umbrella menders and peddlers. As they worked through towns, they would learn who would be a target. While in Milton, they learned that Samuel Bond has recently received a large sum of money from the sale of some cattle. Additionally, they were able to learn a good deal about the layout of the Bond house.
That Saturday night, Fry had unlocked the door of the Bond home using a false key. When Fry heard the scuffle upstairs, he fled, leaving Meyers behind. Meyers then admitted that his intention was to kill all three of the Bonds at the bottom of the stairs, and would have done so had the son not clubbed him. Meyers had Samuel's wallet, with $500, in his pants pocket.
Dr Billings informed the Constable that moving Meyer to the jail would be fatal, and the constable instead placed a man named Fitch to guard and attend to him until Meyers recovered enough to be moved.
Two days later, on Monday evening, Fitch was woken from a nap by a knock on the door. The man at the door said that the constable wanted to see him, out by the wagon. As a wagon stood a few feet from the door, Fitch walked outside, and was immediately clubbed from behind. He came to sometime later, gagged and bound on the ground, with the wagon, and the prisoner, missing. Also, a "portion of the bed" had been taken.
It was clear that Meyers accomplices had come back to retrieve him. At daylight on Tuesday, several men went in pursuit, but no trace of the burglars was found.
Then on Wednesday, two young boys were gathering flowers from the woods about 3 miles from the Bond farm, when they discovered a fresh mound of earth. They commenced digging, and soon discovered the body of a man. As they ran away in fright, they came across William Coles, bringing a team of horses up the road. They told him what the had found, and Coles exhumed the body. The man was wearing nothing but a shirt. His face was discolored, but he had not obviously not been buried long.
Coles put the body into his wagon, and went to the Bond farm, where they identified Meyers.
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Follow Up -
Twelve years later, in June of 1886, A Jacob Schell was arrested for robbery, in Lebanon County Pa. In his confession, Schell gave the location of two boxes buried in the Cornwall mountains, with about $300 worth of goods in them. The boxes were hid by the Peiffer boys, said Schell, and he was aware of 18 robberies Jonas Peifer had been involved in. The papers reported that Schell was a "notorious of questionable character" who had served terms in jail before. Schell admitted that he had been a thief for fifteen years, traveling with the Buzzard gang. In 1890, Schell escaped from prison, along with another inmate. The weather was so severe, and the men were so ill prepared and dressed, that the two were relieved to be caught and hauled back to a warm cell.
The Buzzard Gang is a legendary gang that terrorized the Lancaster area for years. It consisted of a group of brothers, but many additional accomplices. I haven't done enough research to know if this Jacob Schell and the accomplice of Meyers are one and the same, but it does seems somewhat likely they were the same man.
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