yK
ILL FATED FAMILY.
The Last of the Famous Archer
Boys is Dead,
WILL ARCHER KILLED RY THE CARS
AT WELKEK LAST WEEK.
Bowling Green Sentinel.
The last of the Archer boys is dead,
and to conform to all predictions of the
family, he died with his boots on, as
six brothers and two brothers-in-law
before him have done.
The last son to complete such a re¬
markable record, was William Archer,
of North Baltimore, who was run over
and killed by the fast freight on the
B. & O. at Welker on Tuesday evening.
He had been at Findlay and was re¬
turning to his home at North Balti¬
more. He arrived at Welker in the
evening on the T. & O. C, in an intox-'
icated condition. Soon after he start-j
ed out on the B. & O. track to walk to
North Baltimore. He had proceeded
but a few rods when the fast west
bound freight run him down. He was
thrown against the engine andhishead
smashed terribly. The remains were
gathered up and carried to Diebley's
at North Baltimore, where they were
prepared for burial. The accident oc-
cured nearly in front of the restaurant
located opposite the depot, at about 7
o'clock.
This death completes the sensational
taking off of one of the most remark¬
able families in Ohio. There were
seven sons and one adopted sou, and
all have died violent deaths save one.
There are four sons-in-law, and two of
these have met death by violent means.
In addition there was one unmarried
daughter, whose body, after death met,
with a ghoulish fate.
Few families in the United States
have such a sanguinery and grewsome
record. In fact we believe the mortu¬
ary annals of the country will not re¬
cord a parallel during times of peace
and in a law-abiding community. Of
the eight violent deaths, three were
killed by a weapon and six met death
through accidental means. Five of
these latter were the result of train ac¬
cidents.
The family of Archers is well known
in the early history of Northern Han¬
cock and Southern Wood county.
Many years ago the family resided at
Van Buren/then known far and wide
as the "Fighting Town." James Ar¬
cher, the father, distinguished himself
as one of the principal malcontents,
and the sons all grew up with surround¬
ings that naturally conducted to a reck¬
less disposition.
The Archer family, removed to a
farm near North Baltimore in the ear¬
ly history of that city, and here they
have resided ever since. Nearly a
quarter of a century ago, James Ar¬
cher, the father, secured the contract
for carrying the mails between Bow¬
ling Green and Findlay. In the same
connection he run a hack line between
the two places, and the older Bowling
Greeners remember vividly the Ar¬
cher hack line and the pokey slow
coach. He made but one trip a day
leaving Bowling Green at about 8
o'clock in the morning, reaching North
Baltimore at noon, and completing the
journey at about 4:30. Those unfor-
unate victims who were obliged to
make this trip will always remember1
the incident as one of the most tire¬
some events in their lives.
The deaths of the eight sons occur¬
red in the following manner, the de¬
mise of the first taking place nearly
twenty years ago: John was killed at
Fostoria by a B. & O. train; James
met his death by being struck by a fal¬
ling tree that he was felling in the
woods near his home; Bert was killed
by a C, H. & D. train at Deshler;
Frank was shot by Marshal Kratz, of
North Baltimore, while resisting ar¬
rest ; Lute was killed by a B. & O.
train near North-Baltimore. The adopt¬
ed son was killed by the cars at Toledo,
wither he had gone with some com¬
panions to have a time. The single
exception to this remarkable series of
violent deaths, was Joe Mike, who died
of typhoid fever about eighteen months
ago. None of the sons were employed
by the railroad companies at the time
of the death ; the manner of killing
being pretty much on the line of the
recent victim.
Of the four sons-in-law, two met vio¬
lent deaths. One was Hunter McMur-
ray, who was killed a few years since!
in a saloon row at Bairdstown by Wm.
Hurst, the keeper of the place. The
other was Jesse Baker, the heroic of-,
fleer killed at North Baltimore while
pursuing the burglars, Jones CurryJ
aud Crawford. |
Aautli@r sensational incident attend-}
ed the death of one of the girls of the
family. She died several years ago at
the age of 16. Some time afterwards
her body was found wrapped in a sack
and stowed away in a barrel \n an
abandoned warehouse at Bairdstown.
The person to make this awful discov \
ery was a cousin of the dead girl. It \
was supposed that ghouls had desecra- -
ted the grave and had hid the body In j
the warehouse, but were prevented:
from securing it later when wanted.
The father of the Archer family is
still living. At present he is in feeble
health. He is now at Ann Arbor tak
ing treatment for his eyes, which are"
nearly sightless. The mother died
several years ago.
