Lou’s View

By Lou Bernard

The Clinton County Times, as I may have mentioned before, was one insane newspaper. In 1903 it was based along Bellefonte Avenue, right across from where the Civil War monument is now, and in those early days, the paper loved weirdness and mystery. If they couldn’t find some locally, they’d import it.

On November 13th, 1903, there was a headline on the front page: “Aged Man’s Fate Mysterious.” About typical for the Clinton County Times. (I’d love to have been a writer for the Clinton County Times.) They told the story of David Barber, of Driftwood, and the fire that destroyed his house.

Now, you say, Driftwood is in Cameron County, not Clinton County. This is true. But the Clinton County Times reported on it, which gives it a local connection. But, you ask, aren’t you the historian for Clinton County? Why would you write something outside our county? To which I respond, sincerely: Shut up.

David Barber and his wife lived up in Driftwood, not too far from present-day Route 120. Now, back in 1903, electricity wasn’t common yet, especially in remote areas. So if you wanted heat or light, you were pretty much dependent on starting a fire. Unsurprisingly, this led to a lot of house fires, which is what happened to Barber’s home.

Now, Barber was the kind of guy who didn’t believe in banks much—Another very common occurrence back in those days. He kept his money hidden in the house, which was maybe great for security, but not so good an idea if the house was burning down.

Barber became visibly upset, losing everything to fire—His house, his savings, everything. His wife pleaded with him, arguing that he still had his life, but that wasn’t his biggest priority at that moment. So he ran into the burning house.
And that was the last he was ever seen.

This may not seem to be such a big mystery—I’ve certainly heard stranger—But no trace of Barber ever turned up. No body, bones, nothing, even once the fire was out and people were able to search the ashes.

“After the ashes had cooled,” the article said, ”Search was begun for the old gentleman and although the bones of his faithful dog who perished were found, nothing that in any way resembled human bones was to be found and the fate of the old man is a profound mystery.”

For the record, it takes a LOT of heat to burn up an entire skeleton. The average house fire isn’t going to do the trick—There are likely to be some remains left untouched, something that can be identified as human, if not a specific person.

So what happened to Barber?

Over a century later, that’s still unknown. But his wife speculated that he’d gone out the back and then subsequently died in the woods, and his friends and neighbors all agreed with that.

“It is the belief of his anguished wife that Mr. Barber became insane as he saw his home and savings of years go up in smoke and that he made his way through the rear of the building and escaped into the woods,” the Times reported. “Her belief is shared by a number of friends and neighbors and the men who failed to find his bones in the ruins of the house. If the old man escaped the ravages of the fire he probably met a more merciful death in the mountain for he could not possibly survive so long without shelter and sustenance.”

No trace of Barber ever turned up in the local forests, either, but that’s not exactly the most uncommon occurrence. As it is, nothing was ever found, and nothing was ever proven, leaving the death of David Barber an unsolved mystery.