The Dalmatia Mystery

 

Once known as Georgetown, the Northumberland County village of Dalmatia in Lower Mahanoy Township is situated along the Susquehanna River, on land once owned by William Dunbar, an early settler who purchased the property from Thomas McKee in 1773. The land subsequently passed into the possession of Sebastian Brosius, who willed it to his son, John George Brosius, who divided the parcel into lots and named the place in honor of himself. By the late 19th century, Georgetown was a thriving village boasting three general stores, three hotels, a shingle and stave factory, a drugstore and a school. Despite its early growth, the population of Dalmatia has hovered around five hundred for most of its history.

One enduring mystery of Dalmatia is how this riverside village came to be named after a coastal region of Croatia, as records indicate that no one of Croatian descent has ever lived there (at least in its early days). In fact, the earliest residents of the village were German. When the first post office was established in 1818, it was named Dalmatia, presumably because there was another Georgetown in Pennsylvania.

Another mystery involves the strange deaths of three young children in the home of Charles and Ora Matilda Zeigler. After Ora took her own life by setting her home on fire and shooting herself in 1931, it was whispered that she had murdered the children with poison, for reasons that are just as mysterious as the name of the village where the deaths occurred.

The Death of Helen Marie

Four-year-old Helen Marie was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Zeigler, who had left Helen with their 45-year-old grandmother on the afternoon of Monday, October 12. William, who was unemployed, had been hired to pick pears by a neighboring farmer, and since his wife worked at the shirt factory in Dalmatia, William thought it would be a good idea to have Mrs. Zeigler watch Helen while he was gone. It was a decision he would regret; William Zeigler returned to Dalmatia less than two hours later to find his beloved daughter dead.

The grandmother explained that she had put Helen into bed for an afternoon nap, but the little girl never woke up. A physician, Dr. Kuhn, was summoned and, after examining the body of the child, reported his suspicions to the coroner, Dr. Joseph K. Fisher. A local undertaker, D.G. Yocum, was summoned and asked to prepare the girl's body for burial, but he refused to do so until the coroner completed his investigation.

It seemed that Ora Zeigler had little to worry about; the following day, Coroner Fisher concluded his investigation and announced that Helen had died of an attack of "acute indigestion". He said that he hadn't found any signs of foul play, but when locals reminded him that two other children had died under similar circumstances, he began to have second thoughts.

A Surprise Visit

The following day, Coroner Fisher was visited by Mrs. Ray Hagerman of Montoursville, who was a daughter of Ora Zeigler and an aunt of Helen Marie. She told the coroner a story which immediately changed his mind about the nature of the child's death. According to Mrs. Hagerman, her mother had suggested that she "get rid" of her two children. "Think of how much more fun you can have!" she had told her daughter. Mrs. Hagerman then told the coroner about the two other grandchildren who had died inside the house in September of 1930. Charles Marlin Zeigler, age 3, was the adopted son of the Zeiglers, while Marvianna Hepner, age 2, went to sleep at grandma's house and never woke up.
Dr. Joseph W. Schoffstall, a surgeon at the Mary Packer Hospital in Sunbury, removed Helen's stomach and intestines with the assistance of Coroner Fisher and examined them at the home of her parents. They found that the stomach was bloated and the intestines discolored. The organs were delivered to Geisinger Hospital in Danville for a chemical analysis. 

Geisinger Refuses to Examine

Unbeknownst to Ora Zeigler, the coroner was having a difficult time finding anyone to analyze the contents of Helen Marie's stomach. He was told by Geisinger Hospital that such an analysis would be too time consuming, thereby taking staff and resources away from patients. Next, Coroner Fisher turned to Professor Groner of Bucknell University. Groner would have nothing to do with it, telling the coroner that he had no desire to "get mixed up in the case". Undeterred, the coroner returned to Dalmatia and questioned Ora relentlessly and informing her that an autopsy had been performed on Helen Marie. Coroner Fisher concluded that the middle-aged woman was likely prone to recurring periods of insanity and had a deep hatred for children. These suspicions were confirmed by statements given by neighbors, who told tales of Ora's strange and erratic behavior in recent years, with some stating that she was addicted to narcotics.

Ora, however, did have the presence of mind to seek the services of an attorney, Francis Witmer, after she had been questioned by Coroner Fisher. Many viewed this with suspicion, since it seemed that Mrs. Zeigler was afraid of what might come to light should the coroner decide to hold an inquest. Even her husband noticed a change in her behavior; on the morning of October 16, Ora bid Charles goodbye when he left for work-- something she had never done in all the years they were married.

The Final Moments of Mrs. Zeigler

Ora and her husband woke up shortly after five o'clock on the morning of Friday, October 16. After finishing breakfast, Charles left for his job at the Susquehanna Stone Company a few miles south of Dalmatia. It was around 6:15 when a neighbor, Vera Bingaman, heard what sounded like several gunshots coming from the Zeigler residence. Vera informed another neighbor who lived across the street, Beulah Kerstetter, who, in turn, notified her stepbrother, Edward White.

White ran across the street to the Zeigler home and found that the parlor was engulfed in flames. Disregarding his own safety, he tore the screen from the front door and entered the burning home, where he encountered a curious sight. All the furniture was on fire, but the doors to every room inside the home were locked. Covering his face with his handkerchief, Edward broke down each and every door that stood in his way until her reached the upstairs bedroom, where he found Ora Zeigler lying on the bed, dressed in a nightgown, bleeding from the head. On the floor next to the bed was a .38-caliber revolver and a flaming pile of oil-soaked rags.

By this time, virtually everyone within walking distance had flocked to the scene, including the dead woman's brother-in-law, Robert Zeigler, Justice of the Peace Landy Zerbe, William Zeigler and Catty Lenker, who entered the house and covered Orpha's body with a sheet while waiting for the fire department to arrive. Lenker and White discovered four empty cartidges in the bedroom, indicating that Ora had made three unsuccessful attempts to end her life before putting the barrel of the gun against her right temple and pulling the trigger. Authorities would find three bullet wounds in Mrs. Zeigler's chest near the heart, but it was the final bullet that snuffed out her life, shattering the skull and exiting her body behind the left ear. Death was instantaneous, according to the coroner.

After White and Lenker had determined that Ora Zeigler was dead, neighbors began to pull the burning and smoldering furniture from the home, preventing the fire from spreading to the rest of the house. By the time the Dalmatia Fire Company arrived the fire had been extinguished, but some of the firemen sprayed down the parlor for good measure while others tended to White, who was overcome by smoke inhalation during his attempts to save the home. Coroner Fisher and Dr. Kuhn arrived at the Zeigler home a short while later and had Ora's body removed to the funeral home of Fred Dornsife in Sunbury. 

Trinity Church Cemetery (photo by Randall Bordner/Findagrave.com)

The Funeral

Ora's funeral, which was strictly limited to relatives, was held in the home of William Zeigler at three o'clock the following afternoon, with Rev. Roy Freeman of Pillow officiating. Afterwards she was buried in the Trinity Church Cemetery in Dalmatia. While many family members had their suspicions about Ora Zeigler poisoning three young children in her home, not everyone in the family was convinced of her guilt. Anna Hepner, the mother of two of the children who died at the Zeigler home, was interviewed at her home in Reading after the funeral and told reporters that she still believed that her children died of dysentery.

The Hepners moved from Lower Mahanoy Township to Reading after the deaths of Charlie and Marvianna. Prior to that, the two children spent most of their time at their grandparent's house-- so much, in fact, that the Zeiglers adopted Charlie as their own. "There was no reason for us to suspect anything was wrong when our children died," Anna Hepner said to the Reading Times. "The doctors told us it was tropical dysentery that caused their deaths and I know of several children in Dalmatia who died from the same illness last September."

While one member of the Zeigler family was being lowered into a grave, residents of Dalmatia wondered if the remains of two other members would be removed from theirs. There was much speculation over whether or not the bodies of Charlie and Marvianna would be exhumed to determine if poison had caused their deaths. Coroner Fisher put the rumors to rest by stating that he had no intention of despoiling the childrens graves. "The only possible way those bodies will be taken from the ground is if relatives make the request," stated the coroner.

Was Mrs. Zeigler Murdered?

Since Ora had left no suicide note, some wondered if she had been the one who really pulled the trigger. Police officers at the scene concluded that the weapon used was an army revolver, and stated that even one non-lethal shot from a weapon at such close range would have been enough to cause a man to swoon from shock, much less three shots to the chest. Most people scoffed at the murder theory, as all the interior doors had been locked from the inside and no one was seen leaving the Zeigler home after Ora's husband had left for work. Friends and neighbors told reporters that they had been trying to persuade Ora to seek treatment for mental illness for years without success. Coroner Fisher concluded that the woman must have been "in a mad frenzy" when she pulled the trigger, giving her an almost super-human ability to withstand the three gunshot wounds to the chest. Though he believed her death had been caused by her own hand, he assured residents of Dalmatia that he would not certify her death as a suicide until he had fully investigated all angles the case.

 

 

The Case Goes Cold

Charles Zeigler went through great lengths attempting to clear his wife's name, and as the family had endured so much misery, hardship and ridicule since the deaths of little Charlie and Marvianna, pressing the issue seemed offensive and distasteful to many folks in the community. What difference would it make anyway now that Ora had joined her grandchildren in eternal rest? She would never face a judge or a jury, and it was now up to a Higher Power to pass judgment. At least that's how the authorities viewed the matter. With no evidence supporting the theory that Ora Zeigler had been murdered, the case faded into obscurity and, as a consequence, the mystery of how three little children died in one home in the tiny river village of Dalmatia remains unsolved.

Other than Ora Zeigler, there was only one person who might have known what really happened, and that was her husband. Unfortunately, Charles didn't live long enough to divulge any dark family secrets. On March 2, 1933, while working at the Susquehanna Stone Company, a board broke on a scaffold on which he was standing in the stone crusher's engine room. Although it was only a six foot drop, he was impaled by a pump rod. He was transported to Harrisburg Hospital, where he died two days later.



Sources:

Shamokin News-Dispatch, Oct. 13, 1931.
Shamokin Daily News, Oct. 15, 1931.
Shamokin Daily News, Oct. 16, 1931.
Shamokin News-Dispatch, Oct. 16, 1931.
Reading Times, Oct. 17, 1931.
Shamokin Daily News, Oct. 19, 1931.
Shamokin News-Dispatch, Oct. 20, 1931.
Shamokin Daily News, Oct. 28, 1931.
Harrisburg Sunday Courier, March 5, 1933.