150 years after brutal murder, a victim's grave is restored

LIBERTY TOWNSHIP - When the remains of 13-year-old Mary Arabelle Secaur were discovered in a thicket north of Tama Road on June 24, 1872, it sent shockwaves through the community.

Secaur had been missing since she was last seen walking home from church on June 23, 1872. By the time a search party found her the next day, her body had been partially consumed by free-roaming hogs, her jaw missing and her skull fractured.

The rape and murder of Secaur sent members of the community into a downward spiral and the press into a frenzy, culminating in the daylight lynchings of Alexander McCloud and Absalom Kimmel, an intellectually disabled teenager, by a mob of 3,000 people.

Last year, about 149 years after her death, Celina resident Tom May, 73, and his wife Debi Anderson, 73, discovered May is Secaur's first cousin three times removed and likely her closest known relative.

And now, 150 years after her death, a more than six-month long grave restoration project spearheaded by May and Anderson is finally complete.

Anderson said they were inspired to pay respects to Secaur at her final resting place in Liberty Chapel Cemetery in Liberty Township after attending a lecture by David Kimmel, author of "Outrage in Ohio: A Rural Murder, Lynching and Mystery."

The book is an exploration of Secaur's rape and murder by Kimmel, a professor and descendant of Absalom Kimmel's family, the 19-year-old intellectually disabled teen accused of her murder and lynched.

When the couple visited Secaur's grave earlier this year, they found her stone monument was dilapidated and in deteriorating condition; the monument had a huge crack down the middle and was in desperate need of cleaning.

Rather than let the monument fall to pieces, the couple decided to repair it.

"We didn't even really discuss it," Anderson said.

"I found out that I was some distant relation of her, a cousin. I just had a soft spot in my heart for her," May said.

"(Secaur) was 13 when she died, and I remember when I was 14 how that's the beginning of womanhood," Anderson added. "I said 'We've got to do something to conserve her memory.'"

Anderson said they contacted Jill Thomas, Liberty Township fiscal officer, and asked if they could repair the monument. After receiving permission, the couple soon hired Delphos Granite Works of Delphos, Ind., to complete the work.

Shortly after on June 23, the 150th anniversary of Secaur's death, Liberty Township trustee and Parkway High School teacher Lucus Minnich was giving a tour recreating the teen's last steps to some friends when he discovered her gravestone was missing.

"I was beside myself," he said. "Being the township trustee for Liberty Township and being so dedicated to this case, I immediately called the Mercer County Sheriff's Department to report her gravestone stolen."

Minnich called Thomas to let her know the monument was stolen. Thomas quickly clarified May and Anderson had offered to repair and replace the stone and urged him not to call the sheriff's office. Anderson said Minnich later had to call the sheriff's office back to report the headstone was no longer missing.

"I was blown away," Minnich said. "I have taken a special interest in this case because I am carrying on the tradition of (historian and former teacher Harrison) Frech and his honors history class. Every year I try and figure out what actually happened to Mary on June 23, 1872… it brightened my heart to hear that her family would repair and replace her gravestone."

The restoration process took between six to eight months, May said. The monument was cleaned and repaired, and the couple also commissioned a gravestone for the girl, who is buried next to her mother.

Now that the work is completed, the couple said they feel happy to keep Secaur's legacy alive and in good condition.

"I just feel like Mary is smiling," Anderson said.

"And we'll go visit the grave at least once a year" on Memorial Day, May added.

Secaur's murder at the time captured national attention, with newspapers describing in graphic detail the condition of her remains and the community's hostility to those suspected of her murder.

Newspapers at the time said "Judge Lynch" would "assume jurisdiction and institute summary justice," alluding to the likelihood of McCloud and Absalom Kimmel being lynched.

"The (media) coverage around the country was biased toward putting all the blame on McCloud and the Kimmels," Minnich said. "They forced a confession out of Absalom, which was above his abilities because he was couldn't really read or write. A mob of 3,000 people walked from Celina to Liberty Township to watch the lynching."

The Secaur case mystified the public even 54 years later. Regional newspapers in 1926 circulated a so-called deathbed confession from Thomas Bradwell Douglas of Colorado - a man Minnich said, by all accounts, does not exist.

"Dr. David Kimmel, Mr. Harrison Frech and myself have researched this man. We have looked at death certificates, censuses, and hospital records. There is no evidence that this man existed," he said. "People during this time period reached out to the Priest in Colorado who supposedly heard the confession. The priest had no recollection of this man. The priest also had a religious conviction to not share confessions."