THE IRON GRAVE
PART II
REVENGE IS A DISH BEST SERVED COLD
Hezekiah Smith was buried next to his beloved Agnes at St. Andrew's Cemetery in Mount Holly, and it would seem that his story would end there. However, just as the Board of Trustees was meeting for the first time to arrange the establishment of Hezekiah's and Agnes's last request, the college for mechanics, Elton Smith, the exiled son, reappeared in New Jersey.
After his expulsion from Smithville by his father 20 years earlier, Elton traveled to Philadelphia where a kindly woman took him in till he could get on his feet. Soon he had signed on with a schooner and spent the next five years living the life of a sailor. When he was shipwrecked off the Georgia coast in 1871, Elton decided to give up the sea and stay on land. He began working as stevedore (longshoreman) on the Savannah wharves in 1871, and he quickly worked his way up manager and part owner of the business. In the early 1880's, Elton married one of the most sought after women in Savannah, Mary O'Byrne, whose father was a wealthy banker, and whose brother was a prominent attorney. By the time of his father's death Elton Smith had established himself in Savannah society and was known for his wealth and social prominence.
Although Elton had never again spoken to his father after their bitter separation, he did reestablish contact with his mother and siblings. He had returned to New Jersey with one thing in mind, and it was in his mother's name that he filed suit with the Burlington County Surrogate to challenge Hezekiah's will. His reasons were twofold. First, to prove his mother was the true wife of Hezekiah Smith establishing the legitimacy of their children, and second, to exact his revenge upon Hezekiah and Agnes by spoiling their dream of a mechanics college.
For the next ten years the battle raged between Elton and Hezekiah's Board of Trustees in the courts, while a court appointed administrator managed the H.B. Smith Company. Things would have been much simpler had Eveline been able to provide a proper certified marriage certificate, but she could not. Instead it was necessary to collect testimony and evidence from Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and New Jersey. The testimony of friends and neighbors established that Hezekiah and Eveline lived as husband and wife, and that he accepted the children as his own. The physical evidence corroborated the testimony with letters from Hezekiah to Eveline (obviously he had missed some during his search and destroy mission in 1865), as well as Hezekiah's personal account books showing payments to Eveline Smith, and the family Bible looking like Swiss cheese. In the end, the court, as well as all of Burlington County, was forced to admit that Hezekiah Smith, for all his genius, was a bigamist. However, it was Agnes Smith's reputation that would especially suffer. Hezekiah's accomplishments could not be denied, while hers could and would be. She became known simply as a young flirt who had seduced a foolish old man. All her contributions to Smithville, and her talents as a doctor and writer, would be forgotten. Even decades later, Henry Charlton Beck, the New Jersey historian, would only refer to Agnes as, "A well known actress [who] came into the picture mysteriously."
Eveline Smith died eight days before the court finally decided in her favor in 1897. Elton Smith made a financial settlement with the other heirs and became the sole owner of both the H.B. Smith Machine Company and the village of Smithville. Although he would leave the village unscathed, he was determined to erase all evidence of the union between Agnes and Hezekiah, especially the most ostentatious display of their love, the statue of Agnes in the garden. Not only did Elton have the statue broken into pieces, he also had the pieces ground into dust to ensure there would be no relics. The dust was scattered along the Rancocus Creek. He next renovated the mansion to make sure little remained in the stately building to remind him of his father and Agnes. As a final act of revenge, Elton planned to separate the couple in death, as he could never do in life. He arranged to have Hezekiah's body disinterred from its resting-place next to Agnes, and reburied next to Eveline in Vermont. However, Elton's father had one final surprise in store for his son. As a local paper reported upon the opening of the grave:
"H.B. Smith's grave is one of the most peculiarly constructed perhaps in the country. The base of the grave is composed of solid masonry and cement, in the center of which is the iron casket. Then there are two heavy iron slabs, which are bolted together. At the top of this is an iron enclosure similar to a prisoner's cage, through which run heavy bars of iron. The whole is filled with cement. The top is capped with more iron bars, from the top of which iron bars project. This is also filled in with cement."
Hezekiah, perhaps foreseeing Elton's act of revenge,
had made sure he could never be moved. However, Elton refused to
admit defeat to his late father. If he could not separate the couple,
he could at least see to it that the citizens of Burlington County
would believe them separated. He devised a plan to ship an empty
coffin to Vermont and have it buried next to Eveline with all the
appropriate rites, and if there was ever a stone marking Hezekiah's
grave in St. Andrew's, it was removed and destroyed. As far as any
visitor could tell, Agnes lay alone.
The village of Smithville remained virtually unchanged under the management of Elton Smith, and it continued to prosper until his death in 1917. Thereafter, the village began a slow decline due to disinterested management on the part of his heirs, and the changing economy. By the end of the 1930's, Smithville was but a shell of its former self, although the H.B. Smith Machine Company would continue to do business there until the 1970's. In 1975, Burlington County purchased what was left of the village as the site for a county park. The mansion and some of the other buildings and grounds have been restored through the efforts of the county and volunteers from the Friends of the Mansion at Smithville, who also conduct guided tours.
Hezekiah and Agnes Smith still reside at their final resting-place at St. Andrew's Cemetery in Mount Holly. Their grave lies at the rear of the rarely visited cemetery, all but forgotten. Hezekiah's grave is still unmarked, and recently the stone marking Agnes' grave has fallen face down, hiding her identity. Perhaps it was vandals or the weather, but I prefer to believe it was the restless Elton Smith, buried in a nearby cemetery, still seeking his revenge.
SOURCES:
Forgotten Towns of Southern New Jersey
By: Henry Charlton Beck
Rutgers University Press, 1936 ---- BUY
THIS BOOK
The Roads of Home
By: Henry Charlton Beck
Rutgers University Press, 1956 ---- BUY
THIS BOOK
South Jersey Towns
By: William McMahon
Rutgers University Press, 1973 ---- BUY
THIS BOOK
Smithville - The Result of Enterprise
By: William C, Bolger
Burlington County Cultural & Heritage Commission, 1980
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
The Friends of the Mansion at Smithville
49 Rancocos Road
P.O. Box 6000
Mount Holly, NJ 08060
609-261-3780 (Call for Tour and Membership Information)