On April 17th 1902, a well dressed stranger got off the train in Williamsport, and made inquiries as to where to find an undertaker.
He soon approached Sheffer & Son, undertakers in Montoursville, offering them $200 [more than $6,000 today] if they would take a coffin 12 miles up Loyalsock Creek and bury it in a specific secluded spot. He stated that the coffin would arrive from St Louis, and that he would require the undertakers to meet the train and take it to be buried immediately.
He also would require the men to sign an agreement of secrecy, promising that they would not open the casket, and that they would forever keep the matter a secret.
The man was very much perturbed when the Sheffers explained that they could not bury a casket without seeing what was inside. He then conceded that they could look inside, as long as they could promise complete secrecy, and never reveal the matter to anyone.
Unfortunately, the Sheffers continued to decline involvement in the matter. The stranger disappeared, and we are all left with the mystery of what exactly was in that coffin from St Louis, and if it was ever buried along the Loyalsock Creek.
The Wilkes Barre paper surmised the man was either an escaped lunatic, of or a new fangled fraud. The stranger disappeared, and was not heard from again.
Sheffer & Son Furniture Dealer and Undertaker were John J. Sheffer, and son Milton Foster Sheffer.
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| The Lewisburg Journal, 1903 |
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