[Granville-Hough] 26 Sep 2009 - Mill Pond Killing

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

Date: Sat, 26 Sep 2009 09:56:54 -0700
From: Granville W Hough <gwhough at oakapple.net>
Subject: MillPondKill 26 Sep 2009

  How to Kill, then Obfuscate

    The Mill Pond Killing.  Several Sullivan men did not like the owner 
of the mill pond and its sawmill at Bunker Hill and decided to kill 
him.  His name was Robert Dean.  They went looking for him in the summer 
of 1899 and saw a man fishing from a boat out in the pond.  It was murky 
and dark, but it looked like the man they were looking for.  One or 
several took a shot at him; and one, said to be Chester Sullivan, hit 
him.  To their great consternation, when they recovered the body they 
found they had killed their cousin, George Sullivan.
    The group had started out with premeditated murder planned, but 
wound up with unintended homicide, a bereaved widow, and five fatherless 
children.  It was then a matter of self-preservation for all members of 
the group, and at one time or another several different Sullivans were 
said to have done the deed.  Members of the group actually present were 
quite ready to pass on any rumors or gossip that it was some other 
person.  So far as I know, the evidence was so obfuscated that no one 
was ever convicted.  Mrs. Hammonds stated that Samuel Sullivan, son of 
Pappy Tom, but Mack Howell and Vernon Howell (sons of F. M. Howell) were 
indicted.  It seems that there is a mistake on Samuel Sullivan.  He was 
quite elderly at the time, having been born in 1838.  (However, I could 
not locate Samuel Sullivan in the 1900 census.  The entry is either 
unreadable, or he had left the area at the time.)  Two witnesses for the 
prosecution were said to be Bee Sullivan and Victor Sullivan.  Victor 
was himself murdered about three months later, with assailants said to 
be Bee and Ab Sullivan.  
    When Victor Sullivan was killed in September following, there were 
those who connected the killings; which, in the light of time, seem to 
have been for entirely different reasons.  It may be that those who 
killed Victor, for whatever reasons, considered the Mill Pond killing as 
an example of how to get away with murder.  They followed the same 
obfuscating procedure, and though Abb and Bee Sullivan were brought to 
trial, they were able to get an acquittal.  (At the trial, Abb Sullivan 
wore a watch fob taken from the dying body of Victor Sullivan, according 
to Victor's sister.)
    There was finally a trial in March, 1903, on the George Sullivan 
killing, with Bee Sullivan as a prosecution witness.  Apparently there 
was no conviction.  The Howells said Sam Sullivan did the deed.  I doubt 
it was old Sam, but it could have been Chester.  Both Bee and Abb were 
killed later, with no regrets in the community.
    It is likely that widow Maggie (Burkhalter) Sullivan was able to 
marry again and leave the area.  John Burkhalter may have been with the 
family in 1900 as brother-in-law to protect it.  The children are later 
found as adults in Laurel, but Maggie has not been identified after 
1900.  If she married again, she and her children may have been under 
another name.

    GWH: in the Spring of 2007, I was contacted by a young Sullivan 
living in Los Angeles County, CA, a few miles from me.  He was a 
grandchild or great grand child of Meddie Sullivan, son of the victim, 
George.  Based on his conversation, I assume there were some Sullivans 
this branch of the family can not abide to this day.  He apparently had 
been well-schooled in this tragedy in his family..

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The Confucian version of the Golden Rule:  "Do NOT unto others as you 
would NOT have them do unto you!"  Grandpa Hough.