Silas, a son of James Burr and Elizabeth "Eliza" Fletcher, married Sadie Blackmer, daughter of Robert Blackmer and Hannah Smith, in Caro, Tuscola County, Michigan on June 22, 1889. Silas and Sadie had two known children, Neva and Leon R. Burr.
Silas, a merchant, died in Crooked Lake, Garfield Township, Clare County, Michigan at the age of 38 years and 7 months. According to his death certificate, the cause of his death was heart failure due to overwork.
Sadie remarried to Edwin Wesley Brainerd, son of Edwin E. Brainerd and his first wife Martha Haines, in Flint, Genesee County, Michigan on October 25, 1917. It was also a second marriage for Edwin, whose first wife, Sarah Barnes, passed away in 1916. Sadie was 46 and Edwin was 56 at the time of their marriage.
Journal article:
The Case of the Storekeeper’s Red Stomach
On March 31, 1903, Dr. Varnum H. Worden and storekeeper Silas Burr were traveling along a lonely stretch of road from Lake George to Harrison to check land title. Somewhere along the route, Silas collapsed and died.
Although Silas was only 39, nothing about the death appeared suspicious—at least initially. According to Dr. Worden, Silas had just finished his lunch and taken some type of capsule. He then handed the reins to the doctor, saying, “I can’t drive anymore, take me home.” He then leaned heavily against the doctor and died.
Mr. Burr’s body was interred at the family farm in Vassar. However, Mrs. Burr was not satisfied with the cause of death. As she was later to tell the court, she had not wanted Silas to go to Harrison with Dr. Worden. “I heard it stated that Dr. Worden was a good Doctor but a bad man.”
Sadie pushed for an autopsy and soon after the body was exhumed and the organs removed. Dr. Earnest Dean Reed, a physician and chemist, examined the stomach and found a spot about two inches by ½ inch that was an unusual red color. Curious, he then analyzed the stomach’s contents and found traces of potassium cyanide, a poison that could kill within minutes.
The determination: Silas Burr was murdered. But who killed him and why?
Dr. Worden as it turned out. During an intense investigation by the sheriff and others, it came to light that the doctor had earlier filled two mysterious capsules with some substance. He gave one to his wife to give to Mrs. Burr with instructions that she should tell Silas to take it during the long trip to help warm him should he get cold, something he did immediately after lunch.
When interviewed by the police, Mrs. Worden initially said the capsules were from Mrs. Burr, not her husband. But she soon recanted that statement, saying the capsule indeed had come from him and that he had instructed her to say they were Mrs. Burr’s. However, Mrs. Worden also said that she did not know what the capsule contained and that she and her husband never discussed Silas Burr’s cause of death.
The investigation also revealed that Silas was going to sell the store to the Wordens, and they might even have paid for it, but they did not have a receipt. Other testimony backed up the theory that Silas was killed so Worden could get the keys to the store.
In the end, the jury found defendant Dr. Varnum H. Worden “guilty of murder in first degree,” and on Oct. 3, 1903, he was imprisoned in the State Prison at Marquette, in solitary confinement at hard labor, for life.
That was not the only court case or prison terms involving Worden. In Huron County in 1893, a jury found Dr. Worden guilty of Polygamy and he was sentenced to Jackson State Prison at hard labor, for the period of five years.
As Mrs. Burr had suspected and as the crime investigation showed, Dr. Worden was indeed “a bad man,” but just like on TV, justice prevailed.
(Clare County [Michigan] Historical Society newsletter The Catchmark, Spring/Summer 2017, vol. 16, Number 2.)
Note: Above article courtesy of James Ferden.
Newspaper article 1:
SILAS BURR’S BODY ORDERED EXHUMED
STOMACH SENT TO ANN ARBOR
Dr. Worden and Wife Arrested and Held in Jail Awaiting Result of the Analysis.
Our readers will remember the recounting in this paper week before last of the mysterious death of Silas Burr, whose remains were brought from Clare County and buried at Vassar. There seemed so much basis for the charge that his death might have resulted from unusual causes that the body has been exhumed and the stomach and liver removed and sent to Ann Arbor, and R. Worden and wife are held in jail awaiting the result of the analysis.
The Vassar Pioneer furnishes the following particulars pf the latest developments in the case: “Tuesday afternoon Sheriff Updegraff of Clare County, passed through Vassar en route to Ann Arbor and Deputy Sheriff Ed. Humes delivered into his keeping the kidneys and liver of the dead man, which organs the authorities of the U. of M. laboratory had instructed him to procure. The Clare County sheriff stated to Mr. Humes that Dr. Worden and his wife who were arrested at Lake Station on suspicion and landed in jail pending an investigation into the cause of the death of Silas Burr, were getting very uneasy at their detention. The coroner’s inquest has been adjourned until April 29th, by which time it is expected the mystery surrounding this remarkable case will have been unraveled and rumor give place to certainty and suspicion to knowledge.”
(Tuscola County Advertiser, April 24, 1903, p.1.)
Silas, a merchant, died in Crooked Lake, Garfield Township, Clare County, Michigan at the age of 38 years and 7 months. According to his death certificate, the cause of his death was heart failure due to overwork.
Sadie remarried to Edwin Wesley Brainerd, son of Edwin E. Brainerd and his first wife Martha Haines, in Flint, Genesee County, Michigan on October 25, 1917. It was also a second marriage for Edwin, whose first wife, Sarah Barnes, passed away in 1916. Sadie was 46 and Edwin was 56 at the time of their marriage.
Journal article:
The Case of the Storekeeper’s Red Stomach
On March 31, 1903, Dr. Varnum H. Worden and storekeeper Silas Burr were traveling along a lonely stretch of road from Lake George to Harrison to check land title. Somewhere along the route, Silas collapsed and died.
Although Silas was only 39, nothing about the death appeared suspicious—at least initially. According to Dr. Worden, Silas had just finished his lunch and taken some type of capsule. He then handed the reins to the doctor, saying, “I can’t drive anymore, take me home.” He then leaned heavily against the doctor and died.
Mr. Burr’s body was interred at the family farm in Vassar. However, Mrs. Burr was not satisfied with the cause of death. As she was later to tell the court, she had not wanted Silas to go to Harrison with Dr. Worden. “I heard it stated that Dr. Worden was a good Doctor but a bad man.”
Sadie pushed for an autopsy and soon after the body was exhumed and the organs removed. Dr. Earnest Dean Reed, a physician and chemist, examined the stomach and found a spot about two inches by ½ inch that was an unusual red color. Curious, he then analyzed the stomach’s contents and found traces of potassium cyanide, a poison that could kill within minutes.
The determination: Silas Burr was murdered. But who killed him and why?
Dr. Worden as it turned out. During an intense investigation by the sheriff and others, it came to light that the doctor had earlier filled two mysterious capsules with some substance. He gave one to his wife to give to Mrs. Burr with instructions that she should tell Silas to take it during the long trip to help warm him should he get cold, something he did immediately after lunch.
When interviewed by the police, Mrs. Worden initially said the capsules were from Mrs. Burr, not her husband. But she soon recanted that statement, saying the capsule indeed had come from him and that he had instructed her to say they were Mrs. Burr’s. However, Mrs. Worden also said that she did not know what the capsule contained and that she and her husband never discussed Silas Burr’s cause of death.
The investigation also revealed that Silas was going to sell the store to the Wordens, and they might even have paid for it, but they did not have a receipt. Other testimony backed up the theory that Silas was killed so Worden could get the keys to the store.
In the end, the jury found defendant Dr. Varnum H. Worden “guilty of murder in first degree,” and on Oct. 3, 1903, he was imprisoned in the State Prison at Marquette, in solitary confinement at hard labor, for life.
That was not the only court case or prison terms involving Worden. In Huron County in 1893, a jury found Dr. Worden guilty of Polygamy and he was sentenced to Jackson State Prison at hard labor, for the period of five years.
As Mrs. Burr had suspected and as the crime investigation showed, Dr. Worden was indeed “a bad man,” but just like on TV, justice prevailed.
(Clare County [Michigan] Historical Society newsletter The Catchmark, Spring/Summer 2017, vol. 16, Number 2.)
Note: Above article courtesy of James Ferden.
Newspaper article 1:
SILAS BURR’S BODY ORDERED EXHUMED
STOMACH SENT TO ANN ARBOR
Dr. Worden and Wife Arrested and Held in Jail Awaiting Result of the Analysis.
Our readers will remember the recounting in this paper week before last of the mysterious death of Silas Burr, whose remains were brought from Clare County and buried at Vassar. There seemed so much basis for the charge that his death might have resulted from unusual causes that the body has been exhumed and the stomach and liver removed and sent to Ann Arbor, and R. Worden and wife are held in jail awaiting the result of the analysis.
The Vassar Pioneer furnishes the following particulars pf the latest developments in the case: “Tuesday afternoon Sheriff Updegraff of Clare County, passed through Vassar en route to Ann Arbor and Deputy Sheriff Ed. Humes delivered into his keeping the kidneys and liver of the dead man, which organs the authorities of the U. of M. laboratory had instructed him to procure. The Clare County sheriff stated to Mr. Humes that Dr. Worden and his wife who were arrested at Lake Station on suspicion and landed in jail pending an investigation into the cause of the death of Silas Burr, were getting very uneasy at their detention. The coroner’s inquest has been adjourned until April 29th, by which time it is expected the mystery surrounding this remarkable case will have been unraveled and rumor give place to certainty and suspicion to knowledge.”
(Tuscola County Advertiser, April 24, 1903, p.1.)
Silas, a son of James Burr and Elizabeth "Eliza" Fletcher, married Sadie Blackmer, daughter of Robert Blackmer and Hannah Smith, in Caro, Tuscola County, Michigan on June 22, 1889. Silas and Sadie had two known children, Neva and Leon R. Burr.
Silas, a merchant, died in Crooked Lake, Garfield Township, Clare County, Michigan at the age of 38 years and 7 months. According to his death certificate, the cause of his death was heart failure due to overwork.
Sadie remarried to Edwin Wesley Brainerd, son of Edwin E. Brainerd and his first wife Martha Haines, in Flint, Genesee County, Michigan on October 25, 1917. It was also a second marriage for Edwin, whose first wife, Sarah Barnes, passed away in 1916. Sadie was 46 and Edwin was 56 at the time of their marriage.
Journal article:
The Case of the Storekeeper’s Red Stomach
On March 31, 1903, Dr. Varnum H. Worden and storekeeper Silas Burr were traveling along a lonely stretch of road from Lake George to Harrison to check land title. Somewhere along the route, Silas collapsed and died.
Although Silas was only 39, nothing about the death appeared suspicious—at least initially. According to Dr. Worden, Silas had just finished his lunch and taken some type of capsule. He then handed the reins to the doctor, saying, “I can’t drive anymore, take me home.” He then leaned heavily against the doctor and died.
Mr. Burr’s body was interred at the family farm in Vassar. However, Mrs. Burr was not satisfied with the cause of death. As she was later to tell the court, she had not wanted Silas to go to Harrison with Dr. Worden. “I heard it stated that Dr. Worden was a good Doctor but a bad man.”
Sadie pushed for an autopsy and soon after the body was exhumed and the organs removed. Dr. Earnest Dean Reed, a physician and chemist, examined the stomach and found a spot about two inches by ½ inch that was an unusual red color. Curious, he then analyzed the stomach’s contents and found traces of potassium cyanide, a poison that could kill within minutes.
The determination: Silas Burr was murdered. But who killed him and why?
Dr. Worden as it turned out. During an intense investigation by the sheriff and others, it came to light that the doctor had earlier filled two mysterious capsules with some substance. He gave one to his wife to give to Mrs. Burr with instructions that she should tell Silas to take it during the long trip to help warm him should he get cold, something he did immediately after lunch.
When interviewed by the police, Mrs. Worden initially said the capsules were from Mrs. Burr, not her husband. But she soon recanted that statement, saying the capsule indeed had come from him and that he had instructed her to say they were Mrs. Burr’s. However, Mrs. Worden also said that she did not know what the capsule contained and that she and her husband never discussed Silas Burr’s cause of death.
The investigation also revealed that Silas was going to sell the store to the Wordens, and they might even have paid for it, but they did not have a receipt. Other testimony backed up the theory that Silas was killed so Worden could get the keys to the store.
In the end, the jury found defendant Dr. Varnum H. Worden “guilty of murder in first degree,” and on Oct. 3, 1903, he was imprisoned in the State Prison at Marquette, in solitary confinement at hard labor, for life.
That was not the only court case or prison terms involving Worden. In Huron County in 1893, a jury found Dr. Worden guilty of Polygamy and he was sentenced to Jackson State Prison at hard labor, for the period of five years.
As Mrs. Burr had suspected and as the crime investigation showed, Dr. Worden was indeed “a bad man,” but just like on TV, justice prevailed.
(Clare County [Michigan] Historical Society newsletter The Catchmark, Spring/Summer 2017, vol. 16, Number 2.)
Note: Above article courtesy of James Ferden.
Newspaper article 1:
SILAS BURR’S BODY ORDERED EXHUMED
STOMACH SENT TO ANN ARBOR
Dr. Worden and Wife Arrested and Held in Jail Awaiting Result of the Analysis.
Our readers will remember the recounting in this paper week before last of the mysterious death of Silas Burr, whose remains were brought from Clare County and buried at Vassar. There seemed so much basis for the charge that his death might have resulted from unusual causes that the body has been exhumed and the stomach and liver removed and sent to Ann Arbor, and R. Worden and wife are held in jail awaiting the result of the analysis.
The Vassar Pioneer furnishes the following particulars pf the latest developments in the case: “Tuesday afternoon Sheriff Updegraff of Clare County, passed through Vassar en route to Ann Arbor and Deputy Sheriff Ed. Humes delivered into his keeping the kidneys and liver of the dead man, which organs the authorities of the U. of M. laboratory had instructed him to procure. The Clare County sheriff stated to Mr. Humes that Dr. Worden and his wife who were arrested at Lake Station on suspicion and landed in jail pending an investigation into the cause of the death of Silas Burr, were getting very uneasy at their detention. The coroner’s inquest has been adjourned until April 29th, by which time it is expected the mystery surrounding this remarkable case will have been unraveled and rumor give place to certainty and suspicion to knowledge.”
(Tuscola County Advertiser, April 24, 1903, p.1.)
Silas, a merchant, died in Crooked Lake, Garfield Township, Clare County, Michigan at the age of 38 years and 7 months. According to his death certificate, the cause of his death was heart failure due to overwork.
Sadie remarried to Edwin Wesley Brainerd, son of Edwin E. Brainerd and his first wife Martha Haines, in Flint, Genesee County, Michigan on October 25, 1917. It was also a second marriage for Edwin, whose first wife, Sarah Barnes, passed away in 1916. Sadie was 46 and Edwin was 56 at the time of their marriage.
Journal article:
The Case of the Storekeeper’s Red Stomach
On March 31, 1903, Dr. Varnum H. Worden and storekeeper Silas Burr were traveling along a lonely stretch of road from Lake George to Harrison to check land title. Somewhere along the route, Silas collapsed and died.
Although Silas was only 39, nothing about the death appeared suspicious—at least initially. According to Dr. Worden, Silas had just finished his lunch and taken some type of capsule. He then handed the reins to the doctor, saying, “I can’t drive anymore, take me home.” He then leaned heavily against the doctor and died.
Mr. Burr’s body was interred at the family farm in Vassar. However, Mrs. Burr was not satisfied with the cause of death. As she was later to tell the court, she had not wanted Silas to go to Harrison with Dr. Worden. “I heard it stated that Dr. Worden was a good Doctor but a bad man.”
Sadie pushed for an autopsy and soon after the body was exhumed and the organs removed. Dr. Earnest Dean Reed, a physician and chemist, examined the stomach and found a spot about two inches by ½ inch that was an unusual red color. Curious, he then analyzed the stomach’s contents and found traces of potassium cyanide, a poison that could kill within minutes.
The determination: Silas Burr was murdered. But who killed him and why?
Dr. Worden as it turned out. During an intense investigation by the sheriff and others, it came to light that the doctor had earlier filled two mysterious capsules with some substance. He gave one to his wife to give to Mrs. Burr with instructions that she should tell Silas to take it during the long trip to help warm him should he get cold, something he did immediately after lunch.
When interviewed by the police, Mrs. Worden initially said the capsules were from Mrs. Burr, not her husband. But she soon recanted that statement, saying the capsule indeed had come from him and that he had instructed her to say they were Mrs. Burr’s. However, Mrs. Worden also said that she did not know what the capsule contained and that she and her husband never discussed Silas Burr’s cause of death.
The investigation also revealed that Silas was going to sell the store to the Wordens, and they might even have paid for it, but they did not have a receipt. Other testimony backed up the theory that Silas was killed so Worden could get the keys to the store.
In the end, the jury found defendant Dr. Varnum H. Worden “guilty of murder in first degree,” and on Oct. 3, 1903, he was imprisoned in the State Prison at Marquette, in solitary confinement at hard labor, for life.
That was not the only court case or prison terms involving Worden. In Huron County in 1893, a jury found Dr. Worden guilty of Polygamy and he was sentenced to Jackson State Prison at hard labor, for the period of five years.
As Mrs. Burr had suspected and as the crime investigation showed, Dr. Worden was indeed “a bad man,” but just like on TV, justice prevailed.
(Clare County [Michigan] Historical Society newsletter The Catchmark, Spring/Summer 2017, vol. 16, Number 2.)
Note: Above article courtesy of James Ferden.
Newspaper article 1:
SILAS BURR’S BODY ORDERED EXHUMED
STOMACH SENT TO ANN ARBOR
Dr. Worden and Wife Arrested and Held in Jail Awaiting Result of the Analysis.
Our readers will remember the recounting in this paper week before last of the mysterious death of Silas Burr, whose remains were brought from Clare County and buried at Vassar. There seemed so much basis for the charge that his death might have resulted from unusual causes that the body has been exhumed and the stomach and liver removed and sent to Ann Arbor, and R. Worden and wife are held in jail awaiting the result of the analysis.
The Vassar Pioneer furnishes the following particulars pf the latest developments in the case: “Tuesday afternoon Sheriff Updegraff of Clare County, passed through Vassar en route to Ann Arbor and Deputy Sheriff Ed. Humes delivered into his keeping the kidneys and liver of the dead man, which organs the authorities of the U. of M. laboratory had instructed him to procure. The Clare County sheriff stated to Mr. Humes that Dr. Worden and his wife who were arrested at Lake Station on suspicion and landed in jail pending an investigation into the cause of the death of Silas Burr, were getting very uneasy at their detention. The coroner’s inquest has been adjourned until April 29th, by which time it is expected the mystery surrounding this remarkable case will have been unraveled and rumor give place to certainty and suspicion to knowledge.”
(Tuscola County Advertiser, April 24, 1903, p.1.)
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SILAS BURR
AUG. 9, 1864
MARCH 31, 1903
FATHER
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