Richmond Byers:1904, Seelyville, Indiana
Richmond Byers was born in July of 1899 to Martha and Dr. Lenard Byers. In the 1900 Census the family lived in Lost Creek Township. Lost Creek runs east-west from Seelyville towards Terre Haute.
In 1904 Richmond Byers was a 4 year old boy living in a small town in Indiana. He walked with a limp in his left leg. His father was the town doctor of Seelyville, Indiana. The little town is located east of Terre Haute. Seelyville probably seemed much more clean and safe than the bigger town of Terre Haute.
Richmond Byers was the youngest of seven children in 1900. According to the census the family owned their own home outright with no mortgage. His father, Dr. L.S. Byers was born in 1850. His mother, Martha Francis Williams Byers was born in 1862. His siblings were Lenna b. 1882, Alfred b.1888, Matthew b.1892, Lucy b.1894, Ralph b.1896, and Joy b.1897. He had another sister the following year in 1901, Moyne who was also called Mary.
On a summer’s day, June 2nd, 1904, little Richmond Byers seemingly disappeared. (One report stated that he disappeared on May 29th, 1904.) There was very little reported initially about when and where he was last seen.
This might sound a bit like the 1913 Catherine Winters disappearance from Newcastle, Indiana. There are some similarities. Richmond Byers was the child of a doctor. Catherine Winters was the child of a dentist. Both disappeared from small towns. Both would have been nicely dressed and well cared for. One might imagine that the children of a well off family might be the target of kidnapping for ransom.
But, no one demanded a ransom immediately. It’s sadly far more likely that both children were taken by a perpetrator who sexually assaulted and killed them within 24-48 hours of the abduction.
The first newspaper article about the disappearance came on June 7th, 1904. The article says that several bands of “gypsies” or “movers” were being followed. Another article dated June 9th, 1904 stated that Dr. Byers had gone to Terre Haute to speak with Sheriff Fasig. The Byers Family was offering a significant reward. Word had gone out via telegraph to various parts of the country and already hundreds of letters had come in. The reward was for $500 for a conviction and the return of Richmond.
By June 11th, 1904, Dr. Byers was hearing about a child in Missouri that might be Richmond.
It was reported that at least 800 men were searching all over Vigo County and central Indiana.
The Indianapolis News did some of the best reporting on the disappearance on June 13th, 1904. Their reporter went to Seelyville and spoke with several people including Richmond’s mother. He found that Richmond, though not yet five, was rather compulsive about roaming and rambling. His mother had resorted at times to tying him to the house with a long length of rope. She had seven other children to care for after all.
Richmond’s mother described the torture of not knowing as a “ terrible suspense”.
Richmond preferred the company of adults to children. He was very bright and talkative. The fact that he was continually wandering off makes me think that he was possibly a higher functioning autistic. Elopement, or running away, is a common trait among some autistic children.
A neighbor woman, Mrs. Coffey, said that when she last saw Rich, he was talking to a man on Sunday, May 29th 1904. Mrs. Coffey did not recognize the man. The man was in older clothes. She asked Rich what the man had said to him. Rich told her that he had asked the man what was wrong with his eye. The man did not explain but Rich told Mrs. Coffey that the man had a black eye.
The paper seemed to suggest that perhaps Rich had sought out the wrong man to try to talk with. A baseball game on the east side of town had drawn almost everyone that way. People seemed to think that Rich had gone west with the stranger.
The Indianapolis News published a picture of the men of the town walking to a meeting to organize searches for Rich.
So, they have the disappearance taking place on Sunday, May 29th 1904 and not Thursday June 2nd, 1904.
On July 15th, 1904, it was reported that Richmond had been spotted in Bedford, Indiana with a group of traveling people in wagons.
Dr. Byers traveled to many places to look for his youngest child. Despite the travel, telegrams, letters and “clews”; no sign of Richmond ever turned up.
In September of 1904, Dr. Byers received a letter instructing him to go to Terre Haute and take a certain interurban train out of Terre Haute on a certain day and to toss the reward out the window at a certain point. The letter writer said the boy would be returned when the money was first given over. Dr. Byers believed the letter to be another hoax.
In Richmond’s case, he could also have been the victim of an accidental drowning. Lost Creek is not the only body of water around Seelyville. There are many small ponds and small lakes. Much of Indiana is also made up of Karst Topography. Limestone, made up from ancient ocean creatures, is found throughout much of the state. Limestone wears away slowly as water drains through the land. Caves form with stalactites hanging from the ceiling and stalagmites forming on the cave floor.
I don’t know of any caves near Seelyville. Further south in Indiana down closer to the Ohio River there are Marengo and Wyandotte Caves. Further south in Kentucky, there is Mammoth Cave. I happen to be a geology nerd and I have been in all three.
When Richmond Byers disappeared his family and friends felt that he had been kidnapped by “gypsies”. Sorry to use that word but that was the term for people who traveled in wagons around the turn of the century. They were usually itinerant laborers. Most would have been immigrants from Europe in 1904. They likely would have been working their way west. But, these travelers would not have needed another mouth to feed. Perhaps one among them could have been a pedophile and a murderer. It’s far more likely that Richmond was harmed by someone he knew.
Many people helped in the search. Clarence Carmichael was one such local Seelyville young man who traveled to check out different tips about Richmond. He later married Lenna Byers, Richmond’s oldest sister.
What became of Richmond’s family?
His father Dr. Lenard Sanford Byers passed away in 1913. He is buried east of Seelyville in Billtown.
Richmond’s mother, Martha Frances Williams Byers, passed away in 1929. She had been born on January 2nd, 1862 during the Civil War. She had married Lenard Byers at the age of 19 in 1881. She was 42 and pregnant with her 9th child when Richmond disappeared. When she passed away in 1929 in Evansville; her family had her buried with her husband in Billtown, Indiana.
Richmond’s oldest sister, Lenna married Clarence G. Carmichael three years after Richmond disappeared. They wed in July of 1907. Clarence passed away in 1939. Lenna Carmichael passed away in 1962. They were buried in Terre Haute at the beautiful and historic Highland Lawn Cemetery.
Alfred Sanford Byers, Richmond’s oldest brother, became an Episcopal priest. He served as a school principal as well. After his father passed away his mother and youngest sisters Lucy and Moony came to live with him in Evansville. In 1920 they all lived together. Lucy worked as a saleswoman in a department store. Moyne worked as a musician. (She played piano and organ.) Alfred worked in many places in his long career but retired there in Evansville. He never married and passed away in 1962.
Matthew Robert Byers Sr. married Mary Helen Douglas and traveled out west to Montana. He passed away in 1963 at age 71 and is buried there in Montana. He would have been 12 when Richmond disappeared in 1904.
Lucy Beatrice Byers was ten when Richmond disappeared. She became a registered nurse and served in the military in the First World War. She married Arthur Rasure in 1921 and worked as a nurse after the war as well. They lived in Evansville near Alfred and her sisters. Mrs. Lucy Beatrice Byers Rasure passed away in 1979.
Ralph Rollin Byers moved to Chicago. He served as a Second Lieutenant in World War One. He passed away in 1969 and is buried in Rock Island National Cemetery in Rock Island, Illinois. Ralph would have been 8 when Richmond disappeared.
Joy Byers was living with her brother Alfred in Evansville in 1920 and working in a department store. She married a Mr. Price. (I haven’t found his first name.) They had a daughter named Martha. The couple divorced at some point. In the 1940 Census, Joy Price and her daughter, Martha, are living with Alfred Byers again in Evansville. Joy Byers Price worked as a hotel clerk for years and passed away in Evansville in 1981.
Richmond’s younger sister, Moyne Byers married Joseph Montague Huffington. Later she married Vincent H. Lensing. She had played the organ at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Evansville. She passed away in 1985. She would have been about three when Richmond disappeared and may not have had many memories of him.
I imagine that the entire family lived with that trauma of losing Richmond so young. What happened? Was he playing with other children that day, June 2nd, 1904? Given the description of his personality, that doesn’t seem likely.
I know that in June in Indiana the grass is growing and the leaves on the trees are full and green and lush. The weather is usually warm enough to want to go wade in a creek or swim a bit. Did Richmond wander down to Lost Creek? Was he swept away in the current?
Was he abducted and murdered? No one knows.
Richmond Byers was never found. His fate remains unknown.
Rest in Peace Rich
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