The Legend of Polly Williams Traditional Cache
The Legend of Polly Williams
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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Young Love Betrayed at White Rocks
In 1810, Polly Williams was a beautiful blonde 18-year-old, daughter of a poor family that had settled near New Salem.
Polly was a servant for the well-off Jacob Moss family, and soon attracted the eye of the dashing Philip Rogers, a neighbor who was five years older. Her family moved west in 1908 but she stayed, and it was soon accepted that a wedding was in the offing. But Rodgers kept putting off the date.
After two years, Polly was becoming melancholy and even confided to the Mosses that she feared Philip meant to kill her. Mrs. Moss pleaded with her to break the engagement, but Polly wept and said she must marry him even if it meant death, for she could not live without him.
In August 1910, Rogers told her that had arranged for them to be married by a magistrate who lived on the slope of Chestnut Ridge. Dressed in her best, Polly set out with Philip on the long walk.
The next day, four children picking blackberries found her crumpled body at the foot of the White Rock. Her head had been bashed in, apparently by a rock. The body was carried to the home of Moses Nixon at the foot of the mountain, and word was sent to the authorities in Uniontown. No one in the vicinity knew her and she was buried in a nearby cemetery.
It took a few days for the story to spread, but Mr. Moss finally set out for the scene, his suspicions aroused, and had the grave opened. Sheriff Jacob Harbaugh went to the Rogers home and said that as he arrived, Philip's mother was berating him for taking up with such "trash." He arrested Philip for murder.
The Rogers family spared nothing in his defense, even bringing in Sen. James Ross from Pittsburgh as his lawyer. Rogers denied pushing her off of the cliff, saying that they had quarreled and separated, and that she must have fallen accidentally. Despite the judge's comment that the evidence against Rogers was "very strong," the jury acquitted him after a trial that lasted less than a day.
Rogers may have been sent free legally, but he was convicted by outraged public opinion. To escape the furor, he moved to the Greensboro area, where he worked as a stone mason, married and raised a family, and died at the age of 74.
Polly was buried in the Little White Rock United Methodist Church Cemetery, where a third tombstone was erected in 1972. The epitaph: "Behold with pity you that pass by. Here does the bones of Polly Williams lie. Who was cut off in her tender bloom. By a vile wretch, her pretended groom."
Stories of Uniontown and Fayette County
By Walter "Buzz" Storey
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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