Murder at the Scotia Barrens

Ruins of Scotia

 

"I don't know what made me do it. I just grabbed her by the head with one hand and threw her down, and with the other hand I cut her throat." This was the explication given by Bert Delige in 1910, after he had senselessly slaughtered Mrs. John Baudis of Scotia, a once-thriving Centre County mining town just west of State College that today is a ghost town-- and one of the strangest ghost towns in a state filled with them.

As for a motive, Delige gave none; Hulda Baudis had simply been walking home from her sister's house when a black fellow accosted her in a corn field and slit her throat with a razor blade, as calmly and mindlessly as one goes about brushing the teeth or taking out the trash. Perhaps there was just something strange in the air that fateful day in 1910, although anyone who has ever visited the infamous Scotia Barrens is likely to tell you that there is always something strange in the air.

Of course, some will say that the perpetual chill is due to a natural phenomenon caused by the trapping of air currents blown down from the mountains, creating what climatologists call a "frost pocket". And geologists might say the sparseness of vegetation around the Barrens is caused by sandy, acidic soil which contains little organic matter. But those who have encountered the ghost of Black Bert roaming the Barrens might have a different explanation; for the Barrens have always been a dead zone in more ways than one-- a place where tragedy has always grown just a little bit taller than the surrounding scrawny and stunted trees.

 
The Founding of Scotia

  
Scotia came into existence thanks to steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, who held the leases to several ore-bearing tracts of land in the Benore area of Patton Township in the late 19th century. Although iron mining in the Benore region had been carried out on a small scale since the Revolutionary War, it was Carnegie who, in 1880, dreamed of exploiting Centre County's natural resources to the fullest extent. Carnegie, who was a Scottish immigrant, named the place as a tribute to his homeland, and his men soon began mining iron ore from a large, open pit. After washing the ore to separate it from clay, the men loaded it onto railroad cars bound for the steel mills of Pittsburgh. Unfortunately for Carnegie, the venture didn't turn out to be the financial success he had envisioned. In 1899, Carnegie sold the land to the Bellefonte Furnace Company, who operated the Scotia ore fields until 1911, when the mine was closed and the village was abandoned.

Like most Pennsylvania ghost towns, Scotia was popped up virtually overnight and seemed to disappear just as quickly. Today, all that remains are abandoned concrete ghosts of Scotia's failed resurrection in the 1940s, when the mine was briefly re-opened. These remnants include parts of an ore washery and bits and pieces of the Graysdale-Scotia spur of the Bellefonte Central Railroad. During its heyday in the late 19th century, however, Scotia boasted a population of around 400, and the village contained a church, school, saloon, a handful of shops and a public library. The town band, known as the Forest Cornet Band, would often strike up a tune whenever the village's founder, Andrew Carnegie, decided to pay a visit (which, by all accounts, was a regular occurrence). 

 

The Scotia Iron Works

 
The Dark Side of Scotia

While Scotia is known as the home of convicted murderer Bert Delige, "Black Bert" wasn't the first killer to inhabit the Barrens. Simon Dunshot was a German immigrant who arrived in the Barrens sometime in the 1880s and found employment as an ore washer. While returning to Germany for a visit in 1893, Dunshot was arrested as an anarchist and escaped from prison by blowing up the jail (and an adjoining building or two) with dynamite, snuffing out a few lives in the process. After his escape he made his way to Minnesota before returning to Patton Township, where he was eventually tracked down by a detective, C.F. Alexander, and an attorney working on behalf of the German government named Carl Hartman. Dunshot was arrested in Scotia in July of 1895, but not before putting up a whale of a fight. The Altoona Tribune reported that, while Dunshot was tussling with the detective, the fugitive's 12-year-old son attacked Hartman with a knife. Fortunately for Hartman, the assault didn't amount to very much, for the Times reported that the lawyer "succeeded in wrenching the knife from the boy's hands and put it in his pocket... he will keep it as a memento of an exciting experience outside his usual business." As for Dunshot, he was last seen being chained to a seat on a train bound for New York. He was extradited back to Germany and summarily executed for his activities.

While authorities in Germany were dispensing with Dunshot, a quiet funeral was taking place in West Scotia (then known as Marysville). Aaron Delige, a Civil War veteran (who served in the same company as Siege of Petersburg hero and Medal of Honor recipient Franklin Hogan), was being laid to rest in the Marysville African Methodist Episcopal Cemetery. Delige would have the honor of being the last burial in the churchyard. In a few short years, the Delige family name would come to be tarnished thanks to the Civil War veteran's grandson.

 

 

The Deliges of Centre County

Bert Delige, Aaron's grandson, was the son of John and Christina Delige. John had frequent run-ins with the law, often for gambling, fighting, and the keeping of innumerable  "disorderly houses" between Bellefonte and Tyrone. Although his date of death is unclear, it appears that John was long gone from Bert's life before the murder of Mrs. Baudis in Scotia. In February of 1925 Bert's brother, Walter, was struck over the head with a stove shaker by a cousin, Herbert Kreitz (whose father was married to Jane Delige), who fled the scene and whose body was later found along the banks of Spring Creek with four bullet wounds in the chest and one in the head. Because a revolver was found in Kreitz's hand the death was ruled a suicide, although one has to wonder how a person could inflict five potentially fatal gunshot wounds to one's own head and chest and still manage to hold on to the suicide weapon.

Not all of the Centre County Deliges were lawless, however. Some just happened to marry spouses that were. Sadie Delige, of Bellefonte, was a star trapeze performer for the Barnum & Bailey Circus many years before her death in 1923 (at least according to her obituary). Sadie's first husband, Jacob Dean, famously burnt to a crisp in a Bedford County jail cell in 1881 after setting fire to his mattress while in an intoxicated state. Because virtually every Delige family death certificate from Centre County is filled out with "not known" under the name of the decedent's father, date of birth, and maiden name of mother, it's hard to say exactly how the Deliges are related to each other, but it's clear that the Delige-Kreitz family tree extended to Clearfield County, Blair County, and Cattaraugus County, New York.
As for Bert Delige, who lived with his mother and six siblings on his grandfather's 18-acre farm in Scotia, little is known about his life prior to 1905, when he returned home after a stint at the Huntingdon Reformatory. Soon after his return from reform school (he apparently had attempted to rob a Scotia grocer at gunpoint), he shot and killed a child named Ralph Williams in the village schoolyard. 

On the afternoon of October 20, Delige was heading into the woods with his shotgun to do some hunting when he was stopped by 13-year-old Ralph Williams. "Wait a minute, I want to tell you tell you something," said Williams, running up to Delige. It was reported that Delige pointed the gun at the youth "in a spirit of playfulness" and pulled the trigger, not knowing the weapon was loaded. The blast tore off Williams' calf, resulting in a serious loss of blood. Williams was carried to the home of a local physician, who advised the boy's father to take him to the Altoona Hospital at once. Ralph was placed on the main line express train, but passed away in his father's arms before the train reached its destination. When the train stopped at the Bellwood station, Mr. Williams telephoned the Centre County sheriff, who arrested Bert Delige without incident. Delige was tried the following month and convicted of murder in the second degree. In May of 1906 he was sentenced to a three year term at the Western Penitentiary.

 

Death of the Merry-Go-Round Man

Known as the "Merry-Go-Round Man", John Baudis made his living operating carousels at fairs and carnivals around central Pennsylvania. Bert Delige had worked for Baudis at one time, but had abandoned his employment after a dispute over unpaid wages. On August 15, 1910, John Baudis met his death under unusual circumstances; while operating a merry-go-round at a fireman's carnival in South Williamsport, Baudis became angry and went into his tent, where he blew out his brains with a revolver. Although he had penned a suicide note to his wife before taking his own life, Baudis never revealed the cause of his troubles. Hulda Baudis traveled to Lycoming County by train to retrieve the body of her husband-- unaware that she would shortly be reunited with him on the other side of the grave.

While the murder of Hulda Baudis, and the subsequent execution of Bert Delige, has been written about extensively in books on Centre County, it's safe to say that a great deal of what has been written has been exaggerated for the sake of storytelling. For instance, in James Frazier's otherwise excellent book, The Black Ghost of Scotia and More Pennsylvania Fireside Tales, the author cites Tom McKivison of Bellefonte, who reminisced about the murder in 1985. According to McKivison, the night of the murder-- October 16, 1910-- was an unusually clear and bright moonlit evening. However, astronomical records show that the moon had not even reached its first quarter stage on the night of the murder. In reality, it was a very dark and dreary night.

Rather than relying upon the 75-year-old recollections of old-timers, perhaps it is better to rely upon the words of the killer himself. Shortly after his conviction, Bert Delige gave a full confession to a Bellefonte newspaper reporter, and talked about his life and the crime that brought him statewide notoriety. Delige stated:

"There isn't much that I can tell about myself. I am twenty-eight years old and was born up at Scotia. When I was a youngster I ran about the mines up there and played with the other boys. I went to school after a while. I can't just tell how old I was just then, but I guess I went to school about four months.
"The first work I ever did was when I was eight or ten years old... I can remember all about it even now. I started out to work on the farm of Samuel T. Gray and he sent me up to Gray's cemetery to whitewash the pailings. The next work I did, as near as I can tell, was to pick potatoes on the Gray farm." Delige then worked a succession of jobs ranging from carrying slate and lead to working in a brickyard. At one time he also worked in the Scotia ore washery, but his fate was sealed the day he decided to go to work for John and Hulda Baudis.

"The first time I ever worked for Mr. Baudis was when he started out with his merry-go-round," stated Delige. "I don't know what year that was. I was working at Philipsburg then. Mr. Baudis had his merry-go-round down at Hecla. One night his son (Edward Baudis) was coming in from Osceola. He got off the train at Philipsburg, and didn't get back on in time and in that way missed his train. He didn't have any money and came to me where I was shantying and asked me if there was any way he could get to Hecla."

According to Delige, he suggested hopping a freight train. He and Edward Baudis hopped on a freight train to Tyrone, and from there they went to Hecla by passenger train, with Delige footing the bill. The young men never saw each other after that, so Delige attempted to get the money he was owed from Mr. and Mrs. Baudis, but to no avail. Basically, Bert Delige slit the throat of Hulda Baudis over train fare.

In his confession, Delige admitted to hiding in the bushes and lying in wait for his victim on her return from visiting neighbors. He leaped upon Hulda Baudis as she passed, dragged her into the bushes and raped her. He left his victim unconscious along the roadside, but returned to the scene because he had apparently forgotten his hat. By the time he returned, Mrs. Baudis was just regaining consciousness, and she recognized her assailant. Fearing that she would scream for help, Delige produced a razor and slit her throat from ear to ear. 

 

The Trial and Execution of Bert Delige

When the body of Mrs. Baudis was discovered on the morning of October 17 in a cornfield by the earthen dam at the Scotia reservoir, it was at first assumed that she had killed herself while in a state of despair over the suicide of her husband. But when authorities failed to find a knife or razor at the scene, it became clear that Mrs. Baudis had been murdered. Not surprisingly, Delige was the leading suspect from the start.

Delige was arrested and arraigned on November 10, 1910. During his preliminary hearing, an expert testified that the clothing worn by Delige on the night of the murder was splotched with blood, and evidence was offered showing that Mrs. Baudis' death was caused by either a knife or razor. But although no murder weapon had been recovered, Delige was bound over for trial without bail, presumably in light of his confession. However, about two weeks later, detectives discovered a razor belonging to the accused hidden beneath a tree stump on his family's property. This discovery of this key piece of evidence is what would ultimately lead Bert Delige to the gallows, and earn him the distinction of being the last man executed in Centre County by hanging.

On December 10, Delige was found guilty of murder in the first degree and sentenced to death. Sheriff Harley issued an announcement that no passes would be issued to visitors seeking admittance to the execution, which was to be held inside the Centre County jail yard in Bellefonte on April 25, 1911.
Despite the sensational nature of the crime, the execution was carried out with little fanfare. No members of the Delige family were present, and only one son of Mrs. Baudis was on hand to witness the hanging. On the morning of his last day on earth, Delige ate a hearty breakfast and went to the scaffold without fear or emotion, accompanied by Reverend P.F. Paul, Rev. H.N. Hepler, Sheriff Hurley and Deputy Sheriff Rees. At the scaffold Delige gave a three-minute speech urging all to live upright lives. His last words were, "I have only a few minutes to live, but I'll soon be in the arms of Jesus. I'm not afraid." The trap was sprung at 10:17 a.m., and Delige was pronounced dead 14 minutes and 39 seconds later.

Because of the ghastly nature of his crime, the body of Bert Delige was not permitted to be buried in the West Scotia (Marysville) cemetery, and was interred on his family property in a grave marked by a flat, uncarved stone. Since the cemetery property adjoined the Delige property, the murderer's grave lies within about fifty yards of the cemetery boundary, near the spot where the family home once stood.
According to Scotia native Tom McKivison, who was eight years of age when the murder took place, there was no ceremony prior to the burial. "I was standing right there when they did it, looking over the wire fence," McKivison told the Centre Daily Times in 1985. "There wasn't any service. They just put him in the ground and marked the grave with a flat stone." McKivison recalled that he and his wife returned to visit Scotia for several years. "The last time we went, I could still find the place they buried Bert, but that flat stone wasn't there no more. Somebody took it, I guess. Don't know why."

The Ghost of Black Bert

Perhaps it was the act of despoiling his grave that lured Bert Delige's spirit from the realm of the dead, because that appears to be around the time stories of a black supernatural entity prowling the Barrens began to circulate. The first documented sighting comes from 1977, when a Centre County historian named Hugh Winchester was doing research in a local library. He overheard a conversation between a library staffer and an unfamiliar man, who claimed that he had been out with some friends at the Barrens one night when they saw a "large black figure" moving toward them. The apparition seemed to float through the air, and the men observed this ghostly figure for several minutes before it disappeared. Manchester, who was aware of the story of Bert Delige, asked the man where exactly this sighting occurred, and he recognized it as the exact spot where Mrs. Baudis had been murdered. He also asked the man the date of the sighting and, sure enough, it was April 25-- the day Delige was executed. Since that time, there have been scores of reported sightings of the "Black Ghost of the Barrens" from hunters, hikers, and others who have roamed the Scotia wilderness.








Sources:

Altoona Tribune, July 18, 1895.
Altoona Tribune, Oct. 21, 1905.
Philadelphia Inquirer, Aug. 16, 1910.
Altoona Tribune, Nov. 14, 1910.
Altoona Tribune, Nov. 22, 1910.
Altoona Times, Dec. 9, 1910.
Altoona Times, Dec. 15, 1910.
Altoona Tribune, Dec. 20, 1910.
Lebanon Daily News, Feb. 14, 1925.
Harrisburg Daily Independent, April 25, 1911.
Williamsport Sun-Gazette, April 26, 1911.
Lewisburg Chronicle, April 29, 1911.
Centre Daily Times, July 5, 1986.
Centre Daily Times, Nov. 7, 1985.
Centre Daily Times, Oct. 31, 1981.