This collection is made up of three items (8 pages) relating to the investigation into the death of 17-year-old Etna Bittenbender, who was raped and murdered in Sciota, Hamilton Township, Pennsylvania on October 31, 1880. The contents include statements by Samuel Harvey, Samuel A. Singer, and four members of the Marsh family who employed Etna as a housekeeper. They attested to their personal backgrounds and lives, their locations at the time of the murder, and what they witnessed.
Etna Bittenbender was born on August 23, 1863, to parents Samuel and Margaret Bittenbender in Monroe County, Pennsylvania. At 10:00 a.m. on October 31, 1880, Etna left the Marsh family house where she worked as a caretaker/assistant to Emma Marsh, who was in poor health. The next day, Etna's siblings went to the Marsh family's house to ask about their sister, as she had apparently not returned home the night before. As the Bittenbender children walked back to inform their parents that Etna was not at the Marsh home, they discovered the body of their deceased sister. She was examined and found to have been raped, beaten, and murdered.
The crime was investigated locally, suspects were interviewed, and the culprit(s) were not discovered. The Pinkerton's Detective Agency investigated, and the case remained unsolved.
