Excerpt from The Umberger Tragedy: With a Criminal History of Somerset County, Pa This little hook has been written and published with a purpose to supply what was believed to be a general and increasing demand for a convenient, concise and reliable account of the now famous Umberger homicide in Jenner township, and other high crimes committed within the borders of Somerset county in the year 1889 - a year that must remain long memorable in our county's annals for its unusual record of sanguinary deeds. That this belief was well founded has been already abundantly proved. The numerous subscriptions following the announcement of the book's preparation induced the publisher to enlarge considerably upon the original scope of the work, so that the completed book contains additional matter pertaining to the criminal history of Somerset county that is believed will be of general interest to the people of the county and regions contiguous thereto. It has been the aim of the writer to avoid sensational coloring bf facts which would class the book among the already too numerous mass of objectionable publications and detract immeasurably from its historical value. The book may be disappointing in a double sense. It will probably encounter the criticisms of a mawkish sentimentality on the one hand; and it may fail to satisfy the views of the extremely rancorous who have awaited the administration of the law with manifest impatience. If, however, it shall be instrumental in dispelling the mistaken impression that Somerset county is a favorite field for criminals, in which to ply their vocation, its mission will be amply fulfilled. The success of the enterprise has been largely due to the efforts of John W. Patton, Esq., who has covered the business field in a manner unusually thorough and effective, in advance of publication. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.