Love triangle leaves enduring mark on 'Murder Lane'
Eileen Bennett
Staff Writer for The Press of Atlantic City

Mill road, which winds through the Cumberland County Communities of Stow Creek Township and Shiloh Borough, is a tranquil expanse of farmland.

Hardly what one would envision as the site of a sensational, lover's triangle murder back in the mid-1800s.

Although the sign does, in fact, read "Mill Road," many local folk refer to it as "Murder Lane" -- the name of the street that prevailed from the mid-1880s until 1929, when it was changed back to the less ominous-sounding one.

"The name (Murder Lane) still holds as far as the general community is concerned," said Kenneth Pickett, retired county 4-H agent, who's lived on the road since 1957.

Pickett said he was hoping to officially get the name returned to "Murder Lane" when the county went through the 911 emergency signal process a couple of years ago. That's when addresses and numbers were screened and changed, if necessary, to streamline emergency calls.

Some neighbors weren't as enthused as he about the name change.

"I got mixed reactions from the neighbors. With the push on tourism, I thought we could capitalize the name," chuckled Pickett, who uses "Murder Lane" as his address in the phone book and on his mailbox.

"Actually, some of them weren't quite adamant that they wouldn't live on a road named 'Murder Lane'," he added.

The road, which stretches from busy Route 49, is about a quarter a mile long and has about 10 houses on it.

Local folk say there are several versions of the sensational murder that took place there.

The late Victor Fox - who lived in the "Murder Lane" house - set down the story in writing for his children and grandchildren.

According to Fox's version, a young married couple from the Greenwich Township area were having marital problems. The wife supposedly left home in January 1886 with a boyfriend and the husband -- hearing they were in Salem -- set out to find them.

Accompanied by a friend, the husband spotted the couple walking on Mill Road.

A bitter quarrel erupted and the two men jumped the boyfriend. One of the men drew a knife and fatally stabbed the wife's lover.

The terrified wife fled down the road to a house, then owned by Edward Ewing and his family.

Screaming, she burst through the door, and scrambled under a bed where Mrs. Ewing lay with her newborn baby girl, Lucy.

As Fox told it, at a trial in the Cumberland County Courthouse the husband and his friend were sentenced to life imprisonment.

The name "Murder Lane" became familiar to all until Shiloh Borough split from Stow Creek Township in 1929. Prominent officials then pushed to have the name changed back to Mill Road.

Another version of the tale -- with a much harsher ending -- is told in Cushing and Sheppard's "History of the Counties of Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland Counties."

It reads:

"The ... last case of capital conviction (in Cumberland County) was Charles T. Odgen and Washington Howard for the murder of Zadoc Damrell, a short distance above Shiloh on April 28, 1864.

"The wife if Ogden had left her husband in Gloucester County and gone off with Damrell.

"Ogden and Howard hunted for them and met them along the road and Ogden assaulted Damrell with a large pocket-knife, Howard holding him while it was done.

"He died from the effects of the wounds in a few hours. The two were arrested and convicted on June 2, 1864, Judge L.Q.C. Elmer presiding at the trial.

"They were sentenced to be hung on July 20th of that year, which sentence was duly carried into effect in the old jailyard by Sheriff Charles L. Watson on that date."

Which version is correct?

Cushing and Sheppard have newspaper documentation on their side.

Victor Fox's story, however, has the advantage of word-of-mouth, beginning with the people who actually lived through the events. The house where the young wife hid, owned by Edward Ewing, was sold to Fox's father, who in turn relayed the story to his son.

"The only thing we know for sure," said Pickett, "is that two men were fighting on the road, and one of them was killed."

Taken from The Press of Atlantic City;
Cumberland County 250th Anniversary Special - 6/28/98