The Murder of Amos Schroeder

G. F. Schreader

Description

In late November of 1859, in the Borough of Port Carbon, Pennsylvania, the battered body of a man was found in the sluice of an abandoned slack water channel of the Schuylkill Canal. It was determined by local authorities to have been a murder. But the victim, thought to be a local resident, went unidentified for almost six months. 

Port Carbon was one of the many boom towns in the six-county coal region of upstate eastern Pennsylvania. It was the northern terminal point of the 108-mile-long Schuylkill Navigation, the brilliantly engineered canal system along the Schuylkill River between Philadelphia and Schuylkill County. With the discovery of vast resources of anthracite coal at the turn of the century, in the short span of fifty years, what had once been a verdant wilderness had now become a mecca of American industrialization. The unyielding demand for anthracite to fuel the growing America in the northeast by the mid-nineteenth century had grown to magnanimous proportions. Immigrants from all over Europe and beyond poured into the coal region to work the mining and canal operations to supply coal via barge and later the railroads downriver to the tidewater port in Port Richmond near Philadelphia. As in every frontier expansion in American history, there also comes the darker side of human interactions. Men murder other men.

The mysterious affair and the unusual facts surrounding the murder of one Amos Schroeder, a local mine boss from a German immigrant family, was published in a series of four newspaper articles spanning from December, 1859 to May, 1860. His story appeared in the Miners’ Journal, and Pottsville General Advertiser, the historical regional weekly newspaper of publishing magnate Benjamin Bannan of Pottsville. Bannan was a political economist and journalist, one of the most prominent newspaper men of his time. Bannan’s whole life was focused on the expansion of the coal region, and he chronicled everything within his purview. 

Details of Bannan’s investigation into the murder, however, are not known. We only know what appeared in the series of these four articles. The case was apparently solved, but never fully closed. The murderers, who had been identified through the efforts of Bannan, fled Schuylkill County before they could be brought to justice despite the reward offered by the County Commissioners. Bannan, for whatever unknown reason, had opted not to publish the murderers’ names, as they remained at large. No historical record has been found to indicate that they may have been apprehended, nor ever publicly named. It was not until over a hundred and fifty years later when members of the family, while researching their coal region ancestry, stumbled upon the case of Amos Schroeder, who was discovered to be the brother of the author’s Great-Great Grandfather. The identities of the murderers, however, remain lost to history.

This book is a fictional account of how the facts and the mysterious circumstances surrounding his murder may have arrived on the pages of the Miners’ Journal. It is also a novel that takes a historical journey to the anthracite coal region of eastern Pennsylvania during the mid-nineteenth century when coal was king.  It is a story of the hardships endured by the thousands of immigrant families who worked the mines and waterways of the Schuylkill Canal. It is a story of the heritage both famously and infamously created by the coal barons, industrialists, and railroad magnates who fueled the industrialization of a young America.

Sujets

• Civil War Era
• Historical
• HISTORY
• American Civil War
• United States
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Outskirts Press
• Date de parution: 08 août 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781977267528
• Langue: English

Extrait

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The Murder of Amos Schroeder A Novel of the Pennsylvania Anthracite Coal Region Before the Civil War All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2023 G. F. Schreader v2.0
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book.
This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Outskirts Press, Inc. http://www.outskirtspress.com
Cover Photo © 2023 Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive - public domain. All rights reserved - used with permission.
Outskirts Press and the "OP" logo are trademarks belonging to Outskirts Press, Inc.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Dark anthracite! that reddenest on my hearth, Thou in those inland mines didst slumber long, But now thou are come forth to move the earth, And put to shame the men that mean thee wrong; Thou shalt be coals of fire to those that hate thee And warm the shins of all that underrate thee.



The jubilant response of an unknown Philadelphia investor upon receiving a generous dividend from the Schuylkill Navigation Company canal boat business transport of coal, 1831.
C ONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Prologue
Chapter One: Mysterious Affair – Probably a Murder
Chapter Two: The Parties Instrumental to His Death
Chapter Three: The Affair Wears the Appearance of a Foul Murder
Chapter Four: Barely Possible the Man was a Stranger
First Miners’ Journal Article on the Murder, December 3, 1859
Chapter Five: We Trust That No Stone Will Be Left Unturned
Chapter Six: Now After a Lapse of Nearly Five Months
Second Miners’ Journal Article on the Murder, April 21, 1860
Chapter Seven: His Death Still Remains Involved in Mystery
Third Miners’ Journal Article on the Murder, April 28, 1860
Chapter Eight: A Clearing of His Soul
Chapter Nine: Unfortunate for the Ends of Public Justice
Fourth Miners’ Journal Article on the Murder, May 5, 1860
Epilogue
Author’s Afterword
Appendix A: More About Anthracite
Appendix B: More About the Railroads
A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS
No book can ever be written without the help of others. I had an abundance of that. An author uses all the help he can get and then only writes down thoughts as they flow, only collects those thoughts putting them into some semblance of order, and only hopes that the resulting penned version turns out to be some accumulation of word order that tempts people to read it. Such is the story that I have concocted about my ancestor, his very existence a hundred and fifty years ago not even known until sometime in the second decade of the twenty-first century. Which is not all that unusual for Americans, who for the most part seem not to have much interest in family heritages. Maybe that is why this American nation, ostensibly the greatest experiment in human civilization, has the potential to perhaps not endure because it refuses to remember its history.
As for myself, I am just a simple story teller, one of the fast-fading members of the baby boomer generation, but one who recognizes that we need to preserve our American culture, history, and heritage. This story about my ancestor Amos is unimportant at best, destined to be certainly forgotten, and understandably so. But beyond this inconsequential story, I pray only that some of those children behind us understand the crusade to make young Americans aware of just what has been sacrificed to give them the freedoms of life they experience today. Without a knowledge of history, they will make the same mistakes. The American philosopher, George Santayana, said it best, "…Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
There are several people whom I need specially to thank, without whose help I could not have written this book. Certainly, in no particular order of importance, I want to begin at the beginning of what prompted me to conjure up this story. My niece, Sara Fredricksen, is an ancestry enthusiast extraordinaire. Sara has been researching family ancestries for quite a while, and a few short years ago she uncovered some very interesting information about the generations of the "Schreader" family (which has had as many as seven different spellings). Up until that time, the name of "Amos Schraeder" was only known to have appeared in a 1960’s Pottsville Republican newspaper article, the writer’s weekly short "musings" column that looked back at a myriad of Pottsville’s historical articles, mostly for the entertainment value. Even my late father suggested that Amos was not related to the family, although no real records of the family heritage were known to exist at that time. Sara changed all that. She discovered four articles in the 1859-1860 editions of the Miners’ Journal , which ultimately led to Sara’s further research into the family heritage. Amos was indeed a family member, the brother of my Great-Great Grandfather. Sara’s continuing research into the heritage has led her to discover that the Schreader (Schroeder) family originally came to America in the early to mid-1700s during the great Palatine migration from Germany.
Next, I would like to thank Bobby Zolad, one of my fellow colleagues and a true historical enthusiast. Bobby himself is an expert on the American Revolution, is a re-enactor, and who has dedicated a great deal of time and energy both as a volunteer docent at Williamsburg and who frequently makes excellent Revolutionary War presentations to community groups throughout our Pennsylvania area. Bobby accompanied me on a field trip to the Schuylkill Canal at Lock 60 and the canal in the Phoenixville area, where the both of us were able to capture a visual of canal barging. An integral part of the Amos story takes place here at Lock 60, and with Bobby’s period knowledge and insight into the past, together we were able to imagine the traverse of my coal barge in the 1850s. In addition to helping me fabricate the visuals of the storyline, Bobby proof read the completed draft of the novel and offered some excellent editorial advice, always welcomed and which always makes for a better final version.
Another of my close colleagues is more than just a colleague. Mike DeStefano is also a fellow coal cracker, that affectionate term for anyone born and raised in the coal region. The venue for my novel takes place mostly in Port Carbon, Mount Carbon, and Pottsville. Mike was born and raised in Port Carbon, a relatively short distance from my own neighborhood in Pottsville. Though Mike and I were literally raised within a stone’s throw of each other, Mike being a few years senior to me, we did not know each other personally during our youth. We became more closely acquainted years later through our mutual interest in senior softball (along with Bobby Zolad). Mike’s enthusiasm about my story and the coal region around Port Carbon in the 1850s probably did more for the story than I could have imagined. Thanks to Mike, the Borough of Port Carbon came to life on the pages of the novel. But Mike is more than just that. Mike’s life was dedicated to education, and his career as a teacher focused on educating youths on American History. His knowledge has been woven into the pages of the reader’s journey to the 1850’s coal region.
When it comes to preserving the railroad history of our region, there is no one who is more dedicated than my longtime work colleague, Tommy Poserina. Both Tommy and I spent our working careers in the rail industry in safety and training, starting with the Reading Railroad, then Conrail, and finally the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. Tommy is a railroad history enthusiast of insane proportions, especially when it comes to the history of the Reading. He is closely affiliated with the Reading Railroad Heritage Museum in Hamburg, Pennsylvania. Also integral to the storyline of my book is the omni-presence of the original Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company, which essentially usurped the coal transporting business from the Schuylkill Navigation Company after 1860. I needed historical accuracy to convey the railroad operation during the 1850s, everything from coal hopper types and tonnage capacities, to train consists, to time elements, and to the actual geographical layout of the Reading’s lines and branches, particularly in Philadelphia and Port Richmond. His knowledge is unsurpassed. I could not have created the book’s railroad segments without his expert help.
Lastly, I would like to thank the Schuylkill County Historical Society, especially Felicia Wolf, Research Librarian, who was able to answer several of my inquiries about the Miner’s Journal , the Schuylkill Canal and railroads, and the anthracite coal trade in general. With her help, we were able to locate where we concluded Benjamin Bannon, owner and publisher of the journal, had established the original building for his burgeoning newspaper business. She was also able to give me insight into the travel times of the canal barges down and back to Philadelphia, which was a very integral part of my storyline.
As every author will acknowledge, it is nice to have friends and family who share the same interests. Those mentioned above share the same interest in history that I have, probably even more, and I wholeheartedly recognize that their knowledge has been certainly appreciated, and it emerges on the pages of this book. It