The Shohola Skeleton Mystery

Shohola Train Station

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On the Monday afternoon of April 7, 1930, two quarry workers were hauling stone on the mountains overlooking the Delaware River when a spring thunderstorm swept over Pike County. The two men, Ami Quick and Jacob Liebla, sought shelter from the storm under a rocky ledge about two miles west of the Shohola train station. The ledge was like a shallow cave; its entrance, three feet in height, opened into a narrow chamber about seven feet deep. 

The two men were crouched in a sitting position when Jacob's hand came into contact with a peculiarly shaped object protruding from the loose stones. He pulled it out and was astonished to find that it was a human bone. Deeper into the crevice, the two men found a human skull lying on its side. After clearing away some dirt and stones they located the rest of the skeleton. They were unable to find any clothing, shoes, or other items that would aid in identification, and they wondered if perhaps the bones were those of a long-dead Indian. But when they unearthed the jawbone and noticed several gold fillings in the teeth, they were convinced the bones belonged to someone who had died much more recently. The two men brought the skull and jawbone to Dr. Frank Smith in Shohola, who notified the authorities.

Coroner J. Henry Ludwig, sixteen miles away in the county seat of Milford, delegated Justice of the Peace Wolff of Greeley to hold an inquest and make further investigation. Squire Wolff, along with Sheriff Rosencrance, Acting District Attorney X.P. Huddy, and newspaper editor J.F. Terwilliger, drove to the office of Dr. Smith in Shohola to view the skull. They were soon joined by six local men selected for the coroner's jury: Ray Eckhart, John Greening, Sherman Lilley, Chris Renner, George Rogers and Carl Vogt. Dr. Smith had found a one inch long fracture on the right side of the skull, along with two other indentations in the bone that were consistent with blunt force trauma. Death, the doctor believed, had been caused by a blow from a heavy object. Dr. Smith had also examined the teeth, and the ten gold crowns and extensive bridgework indicated that the victim had once occupied a high station in life.

Journey to the Death Cave

As the cave was accessible only by an old logging trail, the coroner's jury had to walk two miles to reach the rest of the bones. A few of the men squeezed into the crevice and began removing rocks, careful not to overlook any possible evidence of a murder. After an hour, several more bones had been unearthed, but no items that would aid in identifying the victim were found. Not a scrap of clothing or leather, not even a button, key, belt buckle or pocketknife. It was if the victim had been killed elsewhere, then stripped naked, tossed into the crevice, and covered with loose rocks and stones. The sheriff believed that was exactly what had happened. The bones were placed into a bag and taken back to Dr. Smith's office. Upon examination of the pelvic bone, the doctor was able to estimate that the victim was a male, between 40 and 50 years of age. 

As acting coroner, Squire Wolff left the bones in the charge of Sheriff Rosencrance, who later took them Undertaker Black in Milford for safekeeping. After returning from the cave, the coroner's jury rendered its verdict, finding that death had resulted from foul play by a person unknown, who had knowledge of the locality. The jury also concluded that the murder had occurred elsewhere, and that the body was stripped of clothing to prevent identification.

Who was the Victim?

As news of the mystery skeleton spread, so did rumors. Some residents of neighboring Wayne County recalled that, two years earlier, a wealthy farmer by the name of James Boot had disappeared one November day after withdrawing a large sum of money and was never seen again. County Detective Charles Schweizer and Corporal Charles Stewart of the State Police were assigned to investigate.
Meanwhile, Dr. W.H. Kassell of Honesdale, along with his wife, traveled to Milford to view the bones to see they might be that of a son who had disappeared in September of 1922. They even brought dental records, but the comparison revealed that the dead man wasn't Dr. Kassell's son. 

The Honesdale physician did notice something peculiar that Dr. Smith had overlooked, however. After examining the bones, Dr. Kassell declared that the right thigh bone had been broken and improperly set early in the victim's life. This provided authorities with an additional clue: That the victim had most likely walked with a noticeable limp. Interestingly, it was remembered that James Boot, the missing farmer, also walked with a limp.

And then came the most promising lead-- not from a local farmer or businessman, but from a probation officer in upstate New York.

Sheriff Makes Arrest

Twenty-five miles to the north, in Monticello, New York, the story about the Shohola mystery skeleton caught the attention of Sullivan County probation officer M.A. Conroy. In February, Conroy had received information through someone under his supervision, Ervin Stanton, that a 22-year-old man from Lords Valley named Roy Roloson had bragged about robbing and killing an old man with an axe and hiding the body two and a half years earlier. As Lords Valley is just a few miles south of Shohola, Conroy recalled his conversation with Stanton and wondered if there might be some connection.

Conroy and Sheriff Ben Gerow relayed this information back to Pike County, and, on the evening of April 12, Roy Roloson was arrested by Sheriff Rosencrance. Roy was a young man from the backwoods, with a younger sister and a twin brother named Ray. Another woman, Mrs. Lyda Rundle, had been living with Roy for months, ever since her children were taken away from her by authorities in Sullivan County, New York. Also arrested were his stepmother, Gertrude, his father, Henry, and Roy's married lover, Lyda Rundle, all of whom Acting Assistant Attorney Huddy believed might possess important information. All parties were interviewed extensively by state troopers, and the following afternoon Acting District Attorney Huddy decided that he had sufficient evidence to to hold Roy Roloson on a charge of murder, even though the identity of the supposed victim was still unknown.

The case against Roloson proceeded rapidly. On April 17, Judge Samuel Shull announced that a special grand jury would be formed on May 19. This put quite a lot of pressure on the prosecution, as the Acting District Attorney (who was filling in for District Attorney George Bull, who was on vacation) had to race to scrounge up enough evidence to secure an indictment. Meanwhile, in New York, authorities arrested Ervin Stanton of Monticello in connection with the murder. Stanton, who was a relative of the Rolosons, was said to have made a statement implicating Roy, his father, stepmother, and married paramour.

The following day, District Attorney Bull returned from vacation and conferred with X.P. Huddy. Bull assumed charge of the investigation and wasted no time assembling information, including scores of affidavits which had already been obtained by authorities in upstate New York. One of these affidavits was from 38-year-old Mrs. May Stanton and was dated April 12.

May Stanton's Statement

According to Mrs. Stanton, who was the sister was Gertrude Roloson (Roy's stepmother), she had overheard Gertrude talking to her husband, Henry, about a murder that Roy had committed about two years earlier. Further investigation revealed that one of Mrs. Stanton's young daughters had once been arrested in Monticello, or a serious morals charge based on a statement sworn by Mrs. Lyda Rundle. The daughter was acquitted of the charge, but decided to "get even" with Lyda by claiming that the man she was living with, Roy Roloson, had lured a stranger to a remote Indian cave, killed him with an axe and burned the clothing. While this was viewed as a fanciful accusation at the time, the subsequent finding of the Shohola skeleton several months later seemed to corroborate the story told by Mrs. Stanton's daughter.

However, the investigation suffered a serious setback on April 19, when Coroner Ludwig dropped dead in the lobby of the Hotel Milford. The 75-year-old coroner had worked tirelessly on solving the mystery of the Shohola skeleton, and it was believed that his fatal heart attack was the result of overwork. Nevertheless, District Attorney Bull announced that Roloson would be formally charged with murder before Justice of the Peace George Foster in Milford on April 25. Roloson waived his hearing, and, as a result, his relatives and common-law wife were released from custody, though he remained in the Milford jail for the next four months. Due to the death of Coroner Ludwig and other unforeseen complications, the grand jury would not convene again until October and Roloson was released on his own recognizance in August by District Attorney Bull.

A Noseful of Holes

Just days after Roy Roloson waived his hearing, it was reported that authorities may have solved the mystery of the identity of the Shohola cave skeleton. Frank Dexter, caretaker of the Forest Lake Club Association, had gone to Honesdale on May 2 to speak with Wayne County District Attorney J. Wilson Ames and County Detective Schweizer. He told a remarkable story about a man named Gus Seahouse, who had worked for him until 1926.

According to Dexter, Seahouse had been employed by the club for several seasons as a laborer, though very little was known about him. He supposedly had no living relatives except for a brother in New Jersey. But Dexter recalled that Seahouse did have gold fillings and walked with a limp. Dexter also remembered that Seahouse had a cancerous growth on the bridge of his nose, and wondered if this could have left any deformities or abnormalities on the bone. Sure enough, when the skull of the Shohola skeleton was x-rayed, the film showed tiny pin-sized holes on the nasal bone.

Dexter also told Ames and Schweizer that, after leaving the Forest Lake Club, Seahouse went to work for a man named Otto Schwartz, where he remained until the fall of 1927. By this time, there wasn't much work left to do, so Seahouse told Schwartz that he planned to go east to Lords Valley to see a former co-worker, Ralph Blackmore, about a job. Seahouse left his clothing and other belongings with Schwartz, but he never returned for them. Gus Seahouse hadn't been seen or heard from since. 

Once again, fate would intervene in the investigation. Upon hearing Frank Dexter's story, authorities went in search of Otto Schwartz, only to learn that he had passed away at Wayne Memorial Hospital a few days after the skeleton was found. At the Schwartz home they found the clothing and personal items that had belonged to Gus Seahouse, but nothing that could aid in the investigation. When police questioned Ralph Blackmore, they learned that Seahouse had never reached his home. But they did make an interesting observation, however.

It was noticed that, in order to reach the Blackmore property from the main road, a traveler would have to turn left onto a side road, and along this road was an unpaved logging trail leading directly to the home of Roy Roloson. Was it possible that Seahouse had landed at the Roloson property by mistake? Or lured there intentionally?

According to those who worked with Seahouse while he was employed by Otto Schwartz, Gus was known to wear a gray hat and a blue coat. Around the time Mrs. Stanton's daughter claimed the murder had occurred, a gray hat and blue coat were discovered in the underbrush on the highway near Lords Valley. It was also reported that Seahouse was known to carry a roll of money with him wherever he went, and was known to flash this roll of bills freely. 

Searching for a Seahouse

Unfortunately, Gus Seahouse didn't leave much of a paper trail for detectives to follow. A search of hospital records revealed that an August Seahouse was a hospital patient at Wayne Memorial Hospital in 1923, but he had provided no family information. He had given his place of residence as Narrowsburg, Sullivan County, New York. Authorities couldn't find anyone in Narrowsburg who remembered him, but they learned that there was a man in Jersey City, New Jersey, named William Seahouse, and their hopes were pinned on the slight possibility that this man had a brother named Gus. Detectives, however, were unable to track him down.

The reason why William Seahouse proved so elusive was probably because he seemed to move around quite a bit. Records show that he and his wife lived in various places in New Jersey during the 1930s-- Glassboro, Cohansey, Sewell, Aura, Clayton and Friesburg, all of which over 100 miles away from Jersey City. While it's easy to search for records today, this task was considerably more difficult a century ago, and it's probably safe to say that both Seahouse brothers were of the sort who didn't place a very high priority on seeing that their mail was forwarded to a new address. It also appears that "Seahouse" was the Anglicized version of the family name; William and Gus' father appears in records as William Seehousz, and there are several members of the Seehousz family buried across southern New Jersey.

The Fate of Roy Roloson

With the possibility of an indictment slipping away, District Attorney Bull announced that he didn't have sufficient evidence to hold Roy Roloson, and he was released on his own recognizance in August. In October, the Pike County grand jury ignored the bill against Roloson, and the investigation into the identity of the mystery skeleton was dropped.

Based on the information gleaned during the investigation, it would be hard to believe that the skeleton belonged to anyone other than Gus Seahouse. From the timeline and circumstances of his disappearance, to the pockmarked bone of the nasal cavity and the tell-tale limp, the details certainly seem to add up. And then there's the fact that no other missing person matched the skeleton's description so neatly. 

But if Gus Seahouse was the victim, it's not clear how he managed to afford a mouthful of gold. Records of Gus are virtually nonexistent, but it is known that his father and brother were both carpenters by trade, and that carpentry was one of the odd jobs that Gus, as a middle-aged man, performed as an itinerant laborer in Wayne and Pike Counties. But what about his younger days? There in no record of any member of the Seahouse family occupying any particularly "high station in life". Was he a gambler, a swindler, or a snakeoil salesman?

As for the accused killer, he never left Lords Valley, though it seems his common-law wife, Mrs. Lyda Rundle, did. In 1936, Roy married a 19-year-old woman from Scranton named Mary Pedley. They had two children, Joan and Samuel, but Roy was granted a divorced in the spring of 1953 after his wife abandoned him. Three years later, his home was completely destroyed by a fire which broke out while Roy was in bed asleep. It took firefighters from Tafton and Hawley nearly an hour to reach the remote location, and nothing could be saved. He never remarried, and died in November, 1985, at the age of 78, after an extended illness. If Roy Roloson murdered Gus Seahouse-- or anyone else, for that matter-- he went to his grave without making a confession.