New Book about 1872 Secaur Murder

Just in time for summer reading, a newly published book about the events surrounding the murder of 13-year-old Liberty Township resident, Mary Secaur. Many from this area of Mercer County, Ohio, have heard and read about these events that occurred just east of Chattanooga, Ohio, in June 1872.

Even after nearly 150 years there is still an interest and many questions about that murder and the lynching that followed a few days later.

Shadows of the Summer Solstice, by Sharon Schaadt Cowen, 2019.

The most recent account of those incidents is the new book, Shadows of the Summer Solstice…A Legend about a Farmer and the Green Ribbon Murder, by Sharon Schaadt Cowen, ISBN13:978-0-578-46094-9, 294 pages, published by SSC Publishing, April 2019. It is available in paperback and Kindle edition at Amazon.com.

Most locals have heard about the murder of young Mary Arabelle Secaur and about the lynching of Absalom Kimmel and Alexander McLeod, two men who were accused of murdering her. Mary Secaur was murdered on her way home from church one Sunday, murdered a couple miles east of Chatt on Tama Road, near where the Farmer’s Picnic is held. Kimmel and McLeod were two of three men accused of murdering Mary and were being held in the Mercer County jail when a mob overcame the sheriff and took the prisoners from the jail. The mob took the men out of town and hung two of them east of where the murder occurred.

Author Sharon Schaadt Cowen has a special interest in this story. Four generations of her family lived east of Chatt and her great-grandparents, Fred and Kate Schaadt, were next-door neighbors to Mary Secaur and the Sitterleys on Tama Road. The families knew each other and the Schaadts were eye-witnesses and participants in the events that occurred after Mary’s murder. Those details have been passed down in the Schaadt family for four generations. Sharon herself grew up near Tama Road and tells the story as it was told to her by her father, Herb. Herb heard the story from his father Lewis, as was told to him by Fred Schaadt himself. Although Cowen tells her family’s version of the incident, she says that the bones of her story come from J.H. Day’s account, Lynched.

I enjoyed the way Cowen tells this sad and tragic story. In her book, set in about 1932, old Duck Legs Phil Kromer, who was a real person, narrates the story from his room at the county home. With his colorful language he recalls the details of the events that summer, nearly sixty years before, and how those events affected the community and how the local people reacted.

One of my favorite things about this book is how Cowen’s personal and local connection makes the characters come to life. Cowen gives the characters real personalities and tells how they dealt with this tragedy. The book also provides a glimpse of what everyday life was like in rural Mercer County in the 1870s. Of course, having grown up in the Chatt area, the names and places were familiar, which added to my reading enjoyment. I know the story, but the book was still hard to put down.

Shadows of the Summer Solstice, by Sharon Schaadt Cowen, 2019.

After nearly 150 years, parts and details of the story will likely always remain a mystery. Although there are several theories about what really happened and who was guilty and who was not, there are just some things we will never really know for sure.

14 comments

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    • Sharon Cowen on May 17, 2019 at 9:59 am
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    Thank you, Karen! Hearing you tell about what my dad, Herbie, his dad, Lewis, and my Great Grandfather Fred told about and lived has brought tears to my eyes. I feel, as David Kimmel must also, that this is a story whose time has come. I pray justice is done for Mary Secaur and all those involved. As you have so eloquently said, “. . .we will never really know for sure what happened.” We can only surmise from the timeline and the blood on the clothing, the knife, and the spots on the handkerchief. Sometimes I have struggled with this being a part of my heritage, but if it makes any difference in today’s or tomorrow’s world, then I must only be grateful. I am certainly grateful for “Duck Legs.” He’s the only part of the story I enjoyed hearing dad tell. I hope I did him justice as well. And to Great Grandpa Fred, I know you spent your life doing your best to help others. What more can I say?

    Sincerely,

    Sharon Schaadt Cowen

    1. You are very welcome, Sharon. I enjoyed reading the book the first time and will likely read it again. I appreciate all your work and thank you for sharing the story that has been passed down in your family and for your additional research to put it all together in such a factual and interesting manner. Thanks for writing!

      • Rocky on August 9, 2021 at 9:05 am
      • Reply

      I recently came across this murder in newspaper articles from Allen County, OH. I would like to read the book……my question is…….has the title been changed to “The Green Ribbon Murder”? I also had a distant cousin who committed triple murder in Putnam County, OH in 1923. These true local murders fascinate me.

      1. Yes, the title has been changed. It is the same book and is a good read. Thanks for writing.

    • Betty Felver on May 23, 2019 at 5:00 pm
    • Reply

    Where can this book be bought ?

    1. You can purchase it at Amazon, available in paperback or Kindle edition.

  1. I purchased this book at Amazon and read it on my Kindle. (You should have a link on your blog. But I found it easily by typing the title in the search box.) The author did an excellent job telling this story. She told the story from the point of view of several characters. It was a very thought provoking book. I have been mulling over what it means to be patient and kind.

    1. Thanks for writing!

    • Betty Felver on August 3, 2019 at 9:45 pm
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    I read the book and enjoyed it very much. Its a very sad story to tell. I thought it was easier to follow that David Kimmells book.

    1. It is a sad story. Both books are insightful, but tell the story in different ways. Thanks for writing!

  2. Hi Betty,

    First, I am wondering if or how you are related to the Basil Felver family?

    I just now (1/21/2020) found your reply on Karen’s Chatt when I came back to see this post she so graciously wrote about the book and the story dad told. Dad–in case that wasn’t obvious in the writing–was Herbie Schaadt and Mom was Edie (Eda)–Herb and Eda. I have a feeling I should know who you are! Fred was John Frederick Schaadt, dad’s grandfather.

    Thank you so much for your kind words in regard to the book! The story doesn’t get any less sad as I age. We have granddaughters close to Mary Secaur’s age, and we live close to Delphi, Indiana where two young girls were brutally murdered a couple of years ago–Abby Williams and Libbey German.

    Telling this story wasn’t what I’d planned to do in my retirement! But sometimes things change. I only hope the book does justice to the memory of those who were involved and to Mercer County and all who remember, or were in some way affected by it.

    Duck Legs was real and in Dad’s version, by the way!

    Again, thank you!

    Sincerely,
    Sharon Schaadt Cowen

  3. Thank you to Jeannette Drake as well for your kind words, and for the wonderful review you left on Amazon!

    I would love to meet you sometime and we can talk about “patient and kind.”

    By the way, Karen, I have been back to “Karen’s Chatt” many times, just not back this post you so graciously did about “Shadows. . . .”

    Sincerely,

    Sharon Schaadt Cowen

    • Lisa sealscott on August 9, 2020 at 6:33 am
    • Reply

    My grandparents lived on Tama Rd and I grew up on Burrville Rd. I have never heard of this event. I am excited to read your book.
    Lisa Sealscott

    1. There are two recent books written about the event and I highly recommend both. Thanks for writing!

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