Valley Girl Views: The Mystery Of The Missing Postmaster, Salladasburg 1901

On March 7 1901, Henry G. Smith, Postmaster at Salladasburg in Lycoming County, left home to walk to Jersey Shore, "8 miles distant". Smith was carrying $500 in cash and checks, intending to deposit them at the Jersey Shore Bank.

A week later, the Philadelphia newspaper reported, "from the time he left home, not a person so far is known has seen him.". The paper reported that he had taken an "unfrequented route", and it was suspected that he had bet with foul play along the way. Search parties scoured the area, but no trace of the man was found.

Besides being the postmaster, a position of importance in 1901, Smith conducted a store and owned real estate. He was the treasurer for the Odd Fellows. "His accounts are in good shape. The general impression among his neighbors is that he had met with foul play and was robbed of his money."

"This disappearance of Henry J. Smith, postmaster at Salladasburg, is as much of a mystery today as it was on the day he was first missed two weeks ago, says the Lock Haven Express. Word comes from Salladasburg that the Odd Fellows have opened the safe in their hall and found the accounts of Mr. Smith, who was the treasurer, all straight and the money there, said to be $300 or $400, just aa he had placed it. It is also reported from Salladasburg that Mr. Smith is under stood to have had about $1,500 of his own and about $900 of the Odd Fellows lodge money on deposit in a Jersey Shore bank, and it is still there. Then again it is said that he had cashed several soldiers' warrants and had them in his possession when he started for Jersey Shore two weeks ago, intending to deposit them in the bank. These have never been deposited, and it is reported that banks have been notified and steps taken to endeavor to find if anyone else has them, hoping in this way to trace the whereabouts of the missing man." The Altoona Tribune, March 1901

18 months later, September 24 1902, Smith was reported to have been located in Leipsic Ohio.

In September of 1902, a telegram arrived from Ohio, sent to the city of Williamsport, seeking information on a man found there. "The man here has been identified as Harry J. Smith of Lycoming County Pa. It has been ascertained that he lives in a town in the Allegheny mountains about eight miles from a railroad station. He has a glass right eye. His face is small and he has a long mustache. He is of quiet disposition and has very little to say concerning himself. He is a carpenter by trade. He says he left Lycoming county on March 6 1901. I met him at Napoleon O"

Various newspapers reported that Smith was mentally incapacitated, and the man in Ohio who was caring for Smith until family could arrive said he could get little information out of him. Smith did tell him, however, that he had a secret he could only tell to his nephew when he arrived.

The nephew, Henry F. Gohl started out for Ohio to retrieve him. It was soon learned however, that Smith had died, of stomach cancer, in a hospital in Cincinnati on September 20th. Four days before he was reportedly located.

The newspaper reports mentioned that Smiths death it was "the first authentic news" received since his disappearance.

The Williamsport Sun Gazette later reported: " L,W. Swartz an intimate friend of Henry J. Smith returned on Monday from his trip to Ohio to identify the body. In an interview with a Gazette and Bulletin reporter the story of his trip was told by Mr. Swartz Monday evening just before the Salladasburg men boarded a train for home at the Pine Street station. It throws a new light on the affair and dispels the belief that the postmaster was mentally unbalanced when he left home.

We, I and H.F. Gohl (Mr. Smith’s nephew) arrived in Ohio and met L.W. Swartz and friend of Mr. Smith’s, they went to the post office. I was surprised when after asking for Mr. Smith, mentioning the name of L.S. Harris, his employer the postmaster informed me he was dead and buried. Mrs. Smith soon wired me to have the body disinterred to make identification sure, but this was unnecessary for a picture of Mr. Smith as he lay in the coffin had been taken and I at once recognized the features.

Why did L.S. Harris telegraph for you to come when the missing postmaster was already dead? Mr. Harris wanted to learn of Gohl, the mystery of his favorite workman’s life, for he felt sure there was one though he never could learn anything from Smith, who during his time in Leipsic was a trusted employee and much liked. Mr. Swartz explained that the misleading telegrams received here to the effect that the dead postmasters mind was unbalanced were incorrect. "

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Henry Jefferson Smith was born about 1846 in Lycoming County Pa, the son of Valentine & Martha Jane [Robinson] Smith. Valentine was a millwright in Elimsport Pa.

In the 1870 census, Henry was still living at home, age 23, and working as a carpenter. In 1900, age 53, he was again listed as a carpenter, married to Jennett, age 38. According to the census, Henry and Jennett, who was born in New York, married in 1897.

Henry's sister Mary Fidela Smith married John A Gohl. Henry F. Gohl, there son, was the nephew who went to Ohio to identify his uncles remains.

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