Historic Neeley House

Column titled “Among My Souvenirs”

By Mae Gilmore, Payette Historian

Workmen excavating for a cellar (1914) where the new house of J.C. Neeley, near Weiser, is to be built, discovered parts of a skeleton of a woman. By careful digging, the entire skeleton was unearthed and was taken to the Northam & McCann undertaking parlors, and they had the skeleton patched up. It was the skeleton of a woman, white, about 135 lbs. The finding of this skeleton produced very little speculation, and it was considered only an accident that the bones had been found after about fifty years.

Then, Monday morning, the workman discovered two more skulls right where the first one had been discovered; these were women. Tuesday morning, a representative of the Signal went out to the Neeley property and carefully examined the ground and the character of the country. The place where the bones were found is located on a high point and shows strange formations. There had been a hole dug in the ground two and a half feet in diameter; this extended into the ground at least six feet. At that depth, the opening spread rapidly, and the limitation on the side of the underground cave is not known at this time. By digging four feet, the bottom of the artificial cave was discovered. The strange part about it was that a concrete bottom had been placed there. The composition is made of cement and gravel about the size of a man’s fist. No digging was done below the concrete top or bottom, so nothing is known about what lies below the burying ground. Above this floor were found four more skeletons; they had evidently been thrown in without regard for the way they fit or remained. The trunks and limbs crossed each other in the utmost confusion. These bones had been here for years before the first ones found had been placed there. They were all white women.

The soil showed that the people had worn clothes when they died or were buried or whatever happened to them. That they were not in the most flourishing condition financially is evidenced by the fact that none of them wore jewelry of any kind. This might also prove, however, that they had been robbed and murdered, as it would be hard to find seven people who would be together none of whom had any jewelry about their person. Not even a silver ring was found. The bones dug up by the Signal reporter were in such a decomposed condition that as soon as the light and air were turned on them, they crumbled into dust. How many bones are left in the unexplored part of the cavern is a surmise only.

Was this the home once of some modern Blue Beard? The victims were all white women.

Did a band of outlaws operate in an early day and dispose of their victims? No gold or silver ornaments were found. Why is the floor cemented on the bottom? Was it a cellar? Did the victims flee to this place for safety and perish of starvation? Where were the men? Who knows the answer?

It is reported that at one time a roadhouse known as the “Hull House” was located at about this spot. Did the owner of this place know the secret of this cellar? The location of this ground with its untold secret is about a mile on the Sunnyside road and is just east of the present residence of Mr. Neeley about 200 feet.

Speculation is rife concerning what is below the concrete floor and where the concrete came from for the construction of a floor or wall of this kind. Is there untold wealth under the stone roof? It sounds hollow when struck with any solid instrument.

Will the answer be made known, or will the story remain locked in the sandy earth with its unnumbered and voiceless dead?

The old foothill road between Weiser and Payette passed within a few feet of this location.

Mention of “the Signal” would be the Weiser Signal, which later merged with The American to become the Weiser Signal-American newspaper. Spelling and grammar were left as printed in the clipping. Mae Gilmore was a much-respected historian of both Payette and Washington County. Biographical information and her obituary can be found at http://payettecounty.info/bios/gilmoremae.html. Thanks to Traci Hilton for drawing our attention to this information about Mae Gilmore.

From Independent-Enterprise – Thu – October 17, 1957