History Mysteries

By James C. Klotter

Four true stories of unexplained deaths and disappearances from Kentucky’s past.
 
Historians are like detectives—and some historical events are like cold cases that haven’t been solved yet. This concise, clearly written book presents the stories of four mysteries of Kentucky history:
 
• The disappearance of James Harrod, who told his wife he was going hunting in 1792 and never returned
• The unknown fate of “Honest Dick” Tate, the nineteenth-century Kentucky State Treasurer who ran off with a fortune in stolen funds
• The battlefield death of Indian chief Tecumseh
• The assassination of William Goebel, who died four days after being sworn in as governor
 
In this enjoyable trip through the past, Kentucky State Historian James Klotter offers clues—but leaves the solutions to the reader.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Aug 20, 1989
• ISBN: 9780813137926

Book preview

The Disappearance of James Harrod

In the year 1792, Kentucky became a state. Its frontier days were over. That same year a tall, rough, good-looking man with black hair and fierce dark eyes got ready to go on a hunting trip. His name was James Harrod. Harrod had led the first settlers into Kentucky, even before Daniel Boone. The town of Harrodsburg had been named for him. Harrod had fought the Indians. He had also helped make Kentucky a state.

But now Harrod lived at peace and loved to relax and hunt in far-off woods. Often he would be gone for months at a time. For this hunt, he put on a linen shirt with silver buttons. He placed his hat, made of beaver fur, on his head, and picked up his old rifle. Harrod said good-bye to his wife, Ann, and their seven-year-old daughter. Then he left. Ann and the little girl would not see him again.

Harrod and two other men went up the Kentucky River into the eastern part of the state. They said they were hunting for beaver. But some other people thought they were looking for a secret silver mine. Years before, a man named Swift had told of finding such a place. But he had gone to England and was put in jail there. By the time Swift came back to Kentucky he was blind and could not find the mine again. Or so his story went. Many people had looked for the mine since then. But no one ever found it.

Perhaps Harrod was only hunting. Or maybe he was searching for lost silver. Whatever he was doing, problems