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The Sturmerville Valentine's Day Murder of 1891

Edward McMillan   Warning: This article contains graphic and disturbing depictions of violence and may not be suitable for all audiences. The borough of Exeter in Luzerne County sits on land where the village of Sturmerville once stood over a century and a half ago. Laid out on 1872 by Captain Solomon Sturmer on a 14-acre parcel of land purchased from Mrs. Rachael Goodwin, Sturmerville's close proximity to the Exeter Shaft and other mines allowed the village to grow quickly in the years following its founding. As is often the case with any boomtown, this rapid growth had unforeseen consequences; coal miners were a rowdy lot and it didn't take long for trouble to start brewing.  On February 14, 1891, one of the most fiendish murders in the history of Exeter Township took place at Sturmerville, in a two-story frame house owned by the Lehigh Valley Coal Company on what is now Cedar Street. This tragedy was enacted in the home of the McMillan family, which was shared by Edward McM

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