WRONGFUL DEATH OF ORVILLE HURSEY

HURSEY, MERRICK, WARREN, MASSIE

Posted By: Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert (email)
Date: 11/12/2001 at 19:45:05

Decatur County Journal
January 3l, l907

'DIED FROM
STARVATION'

ORVILLE HURSEY, son of ROBERT HURSEY, of
near Lineville, died of
starvation and exposure at Griswold a few
days ago. The father received
a letter enclosing a photograph of the
dead boy which he recognized as
his son and he went at once to Griswold
and took the body home. The
young man, who was 22 years of age, had
left home several months ago and
the father was ignorant of his
whereabouts. At Griswold MR. HURSEY
learned the particulars of his son's death
as follows: ORVILLE had,
with another young man, reached Griswold
on a freight train on Sunday
evening, January l3th. They went to the
depot to get warm and when they
reached the waiting room, ORVILLE
collapsed and fell to the floor
unconscious. He was taken to a hotel and
every attention was given him
but death resulted on the following
Tuesday without his having regained
consciousness. No clew (sic) could be
found as to his identity, the
young man who had arrived in Griswold with
him stating that he did not
know his name.

FRED MERRICK, son of J.C. MERRICK, who
resides on the Wm. Petty farm
west of Lineville, now resides near
Griswold and happening to be in
town he went to the undertaking rooms to
view the remains. He was quite
sure that he had seen the dead lad before
but was unable to recall when
and where. He started to drive back to
his farm and on the way home he
suddenly placed the dead lad as the son of
ROBERT HURSEY. He returned to
Griswold at once and the father was
notified. The physicians at
Griswold who had the case in charge state
that death was caused by uric
acid forming in the blood caused by
exposure and lack of food.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Decatur County Journal
February 2l, l907

'BURIED WRONG
MAN'

Supposed to have died a terrible death
from exposure and starvation a
month ago and buried by his parents who
were almost crazed over the
report of his horrible death, ORVILLE
HURSEY, the l9-year-old son of
ROBERT HURSEY, of Lineville, turned up
alive and well in Des Moines
Wednesday of last week as assistant night
clerk at the Graefe House.

Who the boy was that lies buried in the
grave at Lineville, over which a
fond mother shed many bitter tears, no one
knows. It is believed,
however, to have been a comrade of HURSEY,
who after separating from him
assumed his companion's name.

January l6th, a young boy who had been
known as ORVILLE HURSEY was found
dying in Griswold. Physicians failed to
save his life and attributed
his death to exposure and starvation.
Friends of the boy claimed to
know him as HURSEY and his father, ROBERT
HURSEY, was notified at
Lineville and went to Griswold to identify
the dead boy. His
identification was complete, the body was
returned to Lineville and
buried there January l9.

For a month father and mother have been
weeping and grieving over the
death of their only child. The mother was
seriously affected by the
loss and for a time it was feared that the
horrible death of her son met
would unsettle her mind.

Last Thursday she received a letter from
her son dated at Des Moines and
giving the information that he was
employed at the Graefe Hotel in that
city. Too over-joyed to believe the truth
of the letter, she sent a
tintype and letter to Proprietor Kraetsch
of the Graefe House asking if
the boy was really her son. The
identification was complete and
Thursday HURSEY left for Lineville to
assure his mother in flesh and
blood that he was still alive.

But now comes another mystery, Saturday's
Capital stated that he had
left Des Moines a week before for
Lineville, but that he had failed to
reach his home there and that his parents
had heard nothing more from
him, and his friends are wondering at his
second disappearance.

The last step in the remarkable affair is
the discovery in the pocket of
a coat worn by the youth who died at
Griswold of a letter which bore the
address "John Loley, Harlem, Clay County,
Mo." This may identify the
young man whose body lies in the family
lot at Lineville. But there
remains the mystery of HURSEY's present
whereabouts. It was supposed
that when he left Des moines he had gone
home but he has not shown up
there.

Imagine the feelings of his parents who
mourned him as dead; who were
astounded to learn that he is in the land
of the living after all, and
yet who now cannot locate him.

The really marvelous feature of the affair
is that the other man could
have so looked like HURSEY that the
latter's parents were mistaken at
the time.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Decatur County Journal
February 28, 200l

'ORVILLE HURSEY AT
HOME'

ORVILLE HURSEY, who was supposed to have
died at Griswold, Iowa, January
l6th, and was brought here by his father,
ROBERT HURSEY, and buried in
the Yingling Graveyard west of Lineville,
arrived at his father's home,
2 l/2 miles northwest of town last Monday
alive and well. He left Des
Moines just a week before the proprietor
of the Graefe Hotel where he
was employed having received a letter from
the boy's father relating the
circumstances of the identification and
burial of his double and asking
that ORVILLE be started for home at once.
He was without much money and
walked most of the way from Des Moines to
reach his parental home and
assure his anxious parents that their only
son was still in the flesh.

Who the unfortunate youth was whose body
was brought here from Griswold
and buried, is still an unsolved mystery.
MR. HUYRSEY is in receipt of
several letters from persons in various
parts of the west describing
sons and relatives who are missing
anxiously asking for descriptions of
the youth who died at Griswold and was
buried here. One from Mr. E.C.
Warren, of Cambridge, Story County, Iowa,
describes a missing son very
minutely, and MR. HURSEY informs us that
it tallies with the general
appearance and marks of the body buried
here in every particular. MR.
HURSEY has written him and enclosed the
picture of the boy taken after
death at Griswold and it may prove to be
Mr. Warren's missing son.

---LINEVILLE
TRIBUNE.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Decatur County Journal
March l4, l907

'MYSTERY IS
SOLVED'

S.G. MASSIE, of Hopkins, Mo., has
identified the body buried at
Lineville some weeks ago as ORVILLE, the
son of MR. and MRS. ROBERT
HURSEY, who later turned up alive, as that
of his son, CARL ERNEST
MASSIE. His son had been absent from home
since last September and Mr.
Massie had been searching for his son
through Iowa since that time. Mr.
Massie saw the newspaper accounts of the
burial of a strange boy at
Lineville and he wrote to MR. HURSEY. The
reply led him to believe that
it was his son and he hurried to that
place. He identified articles
taken from the pockets of the dead lad as
belonging to his son and the
body was exhumed. The identification was
complete. The dead boy was
about sixteen years old.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copied by Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert
November l2, 200l