The Mystery of the Ferndale Road Victim
After months of anonymity, the murder victim discovered on the Ferndale Diagonal road has been identified as Samuel McCauley, a family man and Mason from Barniston Island.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
In the early part of December last, the body of a man supposed to have been murdered was found on the Ferndale Diagonal road. Who he was or what he was could not be learned, although every effort was put forth by the officers of the county to identify the body. The people of the Sound cities were startled, and much comment and speculation as to who the murdered man was was indulged in. When the body was taken for burial, it was photographed and the pictures were sent broadcast all over Washington. When a clue to his identity was brought to light, the name of the man, known beyond any reasonable doubt, was Samuel McCauley, a rancher on Barniston Island. Henry Kells of Vancouver, B.C., recognized him from the photographs. Sunday evening, James A. Hodder, of Port Hammond, arrived in Whatcom and identified the clothing and the man. Samuel McCauley was a married man with a family of six children. When he left his home he had in his pocket about $80, and it is supposed that he was killed for this money, as none of it was on his person when found. The body will be disinterred and taken to his former home for burial. He was middle-aged and was a Mason in good standing. Yet no clue has been found that would point out the murderer.
“The excitement had all died away and it was supposed that the unfortunate man would, like so many others, be buried unknown.”
Unsolved murders from the early days of Bellingham Bay serve as a grim reminder of the transient and often violent nature of the frontier economy. Today, the Ferndale area has transformed from a rural wilderness into a bustling suburb, but the mystery of the forgotten victim remains a haunting local footnote.
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