October 10, 1923: 19 year-old Elucius Leonard Houghton, known as Leonard, is found dead along the side of Church Street near Country Club. The cause of death is determined to be a fracture at the base of his skull. He has cuts on his face and a wound on his chin. West Elmirans struggle to find out what happened.
Leonard Houghton was born March 3, 1904 in Horseheads, NY to Alexander Houghton and Delphine Swartout. Delphine passed in 1913. In 1923, Leonard was living on Hendy Avenue across from the Country Club in a household headed by his father and aunt. The young man worked at the Country Club during the day as a caddy and was well-known to everyone who golfed there. He was known as a courteous and obliging young man who would help anyone. He enjoyed perfect attendance many terms while attending Hendy School. The month before his death, he participated in a golf competition at Eldridge Park with friends.
On Tuesday, October 9, 1923, Leonard left home at 7:30pm to go the West Elmira Grocery on West Water near Westmont. There, he enjoyed a weiner roast with friends. He returned home between 9-10pm and retired at 11:20pm according to his father. However this conflicts with other sightings of Leonard in the area that night.
At 11pm he was seen near the river by Cleveland Avenue. He had friends there and arranged to borrow a gun for hunting. His father says he thought he heard Leonard leaving between 1:30-2:00 am Wednesday morning, throwing his coat on the front porch of the house. He often took long walks at night. However, residents reportedly saw him walking near his home at 12:30pm.
As to how he died, no one is really sure. His father reports he had been drinking alcohol of late. Signs point to a car being involved. Could he have been stumbling and been hit by a car in the darkest hours of the morning? Around 12:30 Wednesday morning, Mrs. James Hill who lived at the Country Club, heard a car go around the Country Club entrance and then heard a scream.
George Pickel of the Fitch’s bridge area, was driving down Church St. around 2:30am and saw the body. He continued to Jacob Bennett’s House at Clark’s Glen, called the Sheriff, and they returned to find Leonard’s body along the road.
Leon Stroman, a taxi driver, did not notice the body, but ran over something with his car. He dropped off his passengers at the Pillars, and returned to Church St. where he too saw the body of Leonard Houghton.
To further complicate matters, neighbors on Guinnip witnessed a car pull up to Water and Guinnip around 3am. Two people got out of the car and the driver drove off for 10-15 minutes. The driver then returned and was heard saying, “Come on, Edith”. Could this be the car that hit poor Leonard on the road? If so, who was Edith?
Leonard’s brother, Sylvenus Houghton of 362 Diven Avenue, doesn’t think the injuries point to a collision with a vehicle. He believes Leonard’s injuries are more conducive of an assault. The bruise on Leonard’s temple could have been caused by a hand or brass knuckles. The ragged cut on the chin could have been caused by a kick after he had already fallen and failed to get up.
Though Leonard had shown no signs of intoxication at the weiner roast, two of his friends testify that he began drinking later that evening. Ralph Smith and Corbett Johnson say that Leonard had a bottle hidden in a clump of bushes on Cleveland Avenue. After drinking a quantity of the liquor, the two youths began walking him up and down the road in an attempt to get him to sober up. They brought him home at 1:48am on Wednesday morning.
Lamont Wood of 1224 W. 1st St. arrived home from work a little before midnight. At 12:30 he spotted Leonard and the two other young men progressing westward on the street singing. Lamont did not view them to be intoxicated.
The Monday before his death, Leonard had attended a show at the Lyceum in downtown Elmira with his friend Louis Wood. Louis said that Leonard had a few enemies on Railroad Avenue and was attacked by two other men downtown about a month ago. Relatives of Leonard report that he had appeared worried for the last month or so and hadn’t been himself. Though Leonard took a drink from time to time, his father denies absolutely that Leonard was often intoxicated.
However, the investigation brought to light that there at this time was a resort of sorts at the foot of Cleveland Avenue where intoxicating liquors were dispensed. Some of the young men he was friends with were known to frequent this place.
The county coroner Dr. C.E. Anderson reported that the injuries were consistent with being struck by an automobile. “He stated that the bruise near the right temple was a ‘burn’ caused by rubbing on the macadam road”. Dr. Anderson surmises that Leonard had been struck by a car driving in the fog, and the car didn’t know it had hit him. In the end, the doctor’s ruling stood. No one ever found out who the driver was on Guinnip Ave. that morning, nor who Edith might have been. Leonard was put to rest and buried in Woodlawn Cemetery.
Leonard’s father Alexander, passed away only a few years later in 1928. He was 84 years old. He had served in the Calvary during the Civil War. He was also buried in Woodlawn Cemetery.
I was sad to learn of his likable son’s untimely passing and the mystery surrounding his death. I hope they are both resting in peace.
Genealogy and Local History at the Steele Memorial Library in Elmira NY 