Suicide at a Senator's House

 

"Hillside", the residence of Senator Peale

Located near the center of the Lock Haven University campus, Woolridge Hall is home to over two hundred college students. While scores of students have passed though the doors of this modern building since its construction in 1962, many would be surprised to learn that this spot was once the location of "Hillside"--  the sprawling estate of state senator Samuel Richard Peale and his wife, Harriet.

Peale's name may have faded into obscurity, but, in his time, he was one of the most prominent citizens in central Pennsylvania. After graduating from Dickinson College in 1850, Samuel Peale practiced law in Northumberland County for a few years before relocating to Lock Haven in 1856, where he established his reputation as a leading business and real estate attorney. He was elected to the state senate in 1876, representing Clinton, Centre and Clearfield counties for one term before deciding to drop out of politics.

Peale was a public servant of the rarest variety-- the type who believed that it was his duty to serve a single term in office, do his best, and then bow out of the limelight gracefully. “As a senator I am conscious of having served my constituency with fidelity and having brought back my honor unstained,” Peale wrote to a Lock Haven Express reporter in 1907, just three years before his death.

Though he did not seek re-election, Peale was an effective politician, but is best remembered for establishing the Beech Creek Railroad and connecting the New York Central Railroad to the bituminous coal fields of Clearfield County. Many villages and mining patches sprang up along the rail line, including one that was named in his honor. At its peak around 1885, the village of Peale in Cooper Township boasted a population of 2,500. Today, all that remains of this ghost town is an abandoned cemetery.

Samuel Peale (left), circa 1885, from the Dickinson College Archives & Collections.

 

The Tragic Tale of Anna Johnson

The luxurious Hillside estate on North Fairview Street was maintained by a legion of domestic servants over the years, allowing Samuel and Harriet the freedom to entertain their many friends and visitors, and entertaining became a favorite activity for the Peales as each of their six children came of age and moved away (a seventh child, a son named Heber, died in infancy in 1871). In the fall of 1884, the Peales hired a new domestic servant, a cook by the name of Anna Johnson.

Anna, a 38-year-old immigrant who had left her native Sweden after the death of her husband, had been employed by the Peales for just nine days when she was left in charge of the house while the family went to church on Sunday, October 5. Anna sent one of the male servants up to the attic of the house to get something at her request, leaving her alone in the kitchen. When the servant returned from the attic, he could not find Anna, and when the Peales returned home from church a search was made for her. The search culminated with a gruesome discovery.

Anna Johnson's body was discovered in the basement, and appearances indicated that she had used her garter to hang herself, looping it around her neck and then tying the other end to a nail in a ceiling joist before stepping off a block used for breaking ice. The nail was not strong enough to support her weight; rather than dying from a broken neck, Anna died a horrible death from strangulation. 

 

The Rise and Fall of the House of Peale

Despite the cook's suicide, life at Hillside gradually returned to normal for the Peales, and Samuel once again turned his attention to real estate. Beginning in 1881, he purchased thousands of acres of coal lands along Moshannon Creek in Clearfield County, and it was during this time he established the Beech Creek Railroad with help from William Henry Vanderbilt, the eldest son of Cornelius Vanderbilt. Samuel Peale served as the railroad's general solicitor from 1882 to 1895.

 

All that remains of the village of Peale (Photo by Paxton Stewart).

 

By the dawn of the 20th century, coal mining operations in the village of Peale had all but ceased, but, by this time, Samuel had made his fortune and was content to spend his time entertaining guests at Hillside and indulging in one of his favorite activities, horseback riding. While at Hillside, Peale had a morning ritual of taking a horseback ride along Sugar Run Road.

On the morning of Tuesday, August 2, 1910, Peale had set out from Hillside on a new horse he had purchased from Irvin Gleason of North Bend. While passing the farm of Joel Reish, the horse reared unexpectedly and fell on top of Peale, pinning the 79-year-old rider to the ground before jumping a wire fire and escaping into a field. Just after the accident occurred, a bicyclist, Joseph Whitehouse, passed the scene and discovered Peale along the roadside. Whitehouse immediately ran to the Reish farm for assistance, and the two men placed the injured Peale in a chair. Peale instructed Whitehouse to retrieve his horse, ride it to the hospital, and procure an ambulance. Though he knew he was seriously injured, Peale requested that his family not be notified of the accident until after his arrival at the hospital.

 

Woolridge Hall, Lock haven University

 

Ambulance driver Calvin Armstrong, accompanied by Miss Happersett, the superintendent of the Lock Haven Hospital, arrived on the scene in a "touring car" in short order and after Peale was admitted to the hospital his personal physician, Dr. George D. Green, was summoned. Green's examination revealed that the ex-senator had suffered four broken ribs, along with serious internal injuries. As the day advanced, Peale's condition worsened. His daughter, Martha, was at the bedside when her father passed away. His wife and other members of the family were still en route to the hospital when the end came, shortly before seven o'clock that evening.

Harriet Peale continued to live at Hillside until her death in 1929, at the age of 95. In the following decades, the Hillside estate was occupied sporadically by the Peale children and grandchildren, before it finally passed out of the family's ownership. With each passing year the estate lost a little more of its grandeur until it became an abandoned mansion surrounded by overgrown weeds. It was purchased by the state in 1961 and demolished the following year to make way for the construction of Woolridge Hall.