This strange story appeared in the Altoona Tribune on Nov. 7, 1895. I'm not quite sure which part of the story is more unusual-- that a man found a human skull and thought, "Neato! I gotta show this to my wife!" or that the wife tossed out the skull like it was a carton of spoiled milk. Either way, you can't help but feel a little bit sorry for the poor skeleton. So much for resting in peace.
When a sweet old Mennonite woman from Bowmansville saw death standing on her doorstep after a long bout with tuberculosis, she attempted to end her life by slashing her throat. Her suicide attempt was a failure, however, and so she called not for a priest, but for a former lover she hadn't seen in over forty years. With her dying breath she made a ghastly confession-- that she was one of the most ruthless, cold-blooded murderers Lancaster County has ever seen.
Hetty Good confessed her crimes on June 7, 1895, at the age of 61. A week earlier, perhaps overcome by guilt, she had attempted to cut her own throat, but only succeeded in prolonging her anguish for a few more days. Knowing that the end was rapidly approaching she sent for a man from Mohnsville named William Griffiths, who formerly lived in Bowmansville.
Griffiths had been Hetty's lover four decades earlier, as was said to have been the father of Hetty Good's illegitimate child who had mysteriously disappeared from h…
Hetty Good confessed her crimes on June 7, 1895, at the age of 61. A week earlier, perhaps overcome by guilt, she had attempted to cut her own throat, but only succeeded in prolonging her anguish for a few more days. Knowing that the end was rapidly approaching she sent for a man from Mohnsville named William Griffiths, who formerly lived in Bowmansville.
Griffiths had been Hetty's lover four decades earlier, as was said to have been the father of Hetty Good's illegitimate child who had mysteriously disappeared from h…
