BIVINS, Billie - Putnam

In reply to the telegraph and letter sent by Sheriff Vestal to Raney & Carty, attorneys at Piedmont, Mo on Friday of last week, the following letter was received on Monday.  Read in connection with other notice of the affair published in our columns, this letter gives additional light, but the mystery is not unveiled. The letter is dated Piedmont, Mo and reads as follows:

Sheriff W. B. Vestal, Greencastle, Ind.; Dear Sir: Yours received to-day; your telegram was received late yesterday evening. Our Mr. Raney went, last night, to the home of the Prosecuting Attorney of this county, who does not live here, and who had in his possession the papers found on the body, to get the papers, but he would not give them up, as the State wants to make a fuller investigation of the matter. Henry Palmer was arrested for the murder of Wm. Fitch, the body being claimed to be that of Fitch it was recognized as the body of Fitch—but Fitch has turned up alive and Palmer was discharged. The thing is quite a mystery. I believe now and believed from the beginning that the body was the body of Wm. Bivins. The clothing has been preserved and washed out, and is in the possession of the Prosecuting Attorney, I think. Foul play in suspected. I understand that a pocket knife and two keys were found in some of his pockets; one pocket was turned wrong side out, and one cut off; I understand, also a nickel was found. There was a scar, or what was thought to be a scar, on the left foot, just on top of the ball, back of the big toe, an inch or one inch and a half long; also a knot, I have heard, on the back of the head. The witnesses say the hair was black or a dark auburn, about two inches long on top of the head. He wore a mustache. One front tooth was plugged with a gold filling, and one nicked or partly broken off -  some say it looked as though it had been filled and the filling knocked out. Three front teeth were loose. Height judged to be about five feet six inches. Had on a dark coat, pants with broad stripe in them; undershirt of a fine light material, with a red cross check; a light grey vest; base ball shoes and rubber soles, not over a six in number, probably a five one shoe has been preserved.  No bullet wounds were found. The breast was bruised the bruise partook of the footprints of a man and looked as though he had been stamped on his breast. The neck was broken, and clots of blood, about a tablespoonful, had collected at the base of the skull, where it joins the vertebrae. There were some small clots between the eyes. This is all the information I can give you. To say the least, it is very mysterious. Where he was found was not very far from the railroad. Was he demented and imagined some one pursuing him, and jumped from a train and hurt himself? Or did he commit suicide. Or was he murdered and robbed'? The note in the memorandum book shows, in my opinion, one of these things: He was demented, or was killed by some-one who knew him, and knew his family connections, or at least that he had a brother named Charles, and put those papers on him and threw his body in the creek. But with the lights before the people here, the more it is talked over the deeper mystery. I will be glad to aid you or his family, in any way I can, in unraveling the mystery.

On Saturday Tom Bivins and his brother-in-law, Will Naugle, of Clay City, left here for Piedmont, Mo., to investigate matters, and learn what they could towards unraveling the mystery. They arrived at Piedmont at 4 o’clock Sunday morning. The town is situated at the foot of the mountains, on the Iron Mountain Railroad, about 130 miles south of St. Louis. The people of the town were kind to the visitors and rendered every possible assistance. They soon learned, by examination of the note found on the body, the clothing worn, and the marks noted about the body, that it was indeed the remains of Billie Bivins, but no clue was discovered as to the whys, wherefores, means or exact place of death, further than have been given by us as surmises.  

The Coroner’s inquests two of which were held, seem to have been conducted with little if any judgment; notwithstanding the written clues as to the dead man’s identity found on his person, the first verdict rendered was that it was the body of an unknown man who had come to his death by drowning; the second verdict was that it was the body of Wm. Fitch and that he had been murdered by Henry Palmer and the latter was arrested for the crime. It was only after the supposed murdered man had turned up alive and well that the Coroner and others interested set about learning the truth by using the clues found upon the person of the dead man.

When the second verdict was returned, Mr. Fitch, the father of the supposed murdered man had the corpse prepared for burial, furnished a handsome casket and superintended the burial. So great was the resemblance between young Fitch and Billie Bivins that the friends of the former would not believe he was alive, after seeing the corpse, until they saw him personally.  

It is to be hoped that time and detective skill may fully fathom the mystery surrounding the death of Billie Bivins all is uncertain in regard to it now, save the fact that he is known to be dead.  The report of the visit of Messrs.

Bivins and Naugle, as sent by special telegram from Piedmont to the St.

Louis Republic, is as follows: PlEDMONT, Mo., July 25.

The Bivins tragedy is as great a mystery as ever. On yesterday there came from Indiana T. J. Bivins, of Greencastle, and W. E. Naugle, of Clay City, brother and brother-in-law of the supposed deceased. They fully identified the clothing and writing as that of Wm. Bivins.

On July 6 William Bivins left Greencastle, Ind., in company with Dick Smith, a man of unsavory reputation, and on July 15 his dead body was found here in McKinzie Creek. They had started to Hot Springs “on a bum.” Smith is a gambler and a fugitive from justice, and it is supposed he murdered Bivins for what little money he had. Smith’s people live in Wichita, Kas. Mr. Naugle left last night for that point to obtain what information he can as to Smith’s whereabouts. Smith is now the only man who can give any solution as to how, when and by whom William Bivins met his untimely end. The people are thoroughly convinced that Henry Palmer is perfectly innocent.