The Enola Mountain Tragedy: The Strange Case of Jeremiah Miller
At the turn of the 20th century, a new village sprouted across the Susquehanna River from Harrisburg. Spurred by the growth of the Pennsylvania Railroad, this village-- which came to be known as Enola-- was named for the daughter of a farmer from nearby Summerdale. But long before Enola became the site of the third-largest rail yard in the country (now owned by Norfolk Southern, the Enola Yard currently handles 275,000 tons of freight per day), this region was sparsely populated. The southern slope of Blue Mountain, which divides Cumberland and Perry counties, was dotted with log cabins, primarily occupied by impoverished folks who eked out a living by chopping wood, mending pots and pans, and performing odd jobs around the countryside. One such person was Jeremiah Miller, who rose to infamy in the summer of 1890 after slaying his wife and taking his own life. But what makes the tragic tale of Jeremiah Miller truly bizarre is that his father and grandfather both suffered similar fat
