(BEDFORD) – Bedford Revitalization Inc.’s Downtown Derby Week is October 7-12.
One of the many attractions is the Dastardly Dinner on Wednesday, October 9th at the Limestone Cafe on the square. Dinner guests will attempt to solve the murder of Sarah Schafer.
You can make dinner reservations for one of the two seatings, 6 p.m. or 8 p.m. The cost to attend is $35 and includes a dinner of chicken parmesan, a side salad, homemade bread, and dessert.
Call the Limestone Cafe at 812-279-0499 to make your reservation.
During the dinner, you will relive the last moments that lead to the death of 23-year-old Sarah Schafer, a young Latin teacher at Bedford High School. Miss Schafer was brutally slain on her way home from dinner on Jan. 22 1904.
Miss Schafer had eaten supper at Mrs. Martha Johnson’s boarding house at 1411 L Street around 6:30 p.m.
She was scheduled to meet a class of students to offer a lesson in Latin. She did not reach her destination.
Miss Schafer started off to her room at a boarding house on West 13th Street about three blocks away. On her way to her room, she passed an alley at 14th and L streets. Police say that is where she was grabbed by her assailant and dragged nearly 50 feet to a buggy shed about two blocks from the courthouse square.
Police said her hairpins were found at the mouth of the alley.
Miss Shafter’s body was found the next morning in the shed by a cab driver.
She had been assaulted, robbed and her body mutilated. Police said her body was unrecognizable and the appearance of the shed indicated Miss Schafer struggled with her assailant.
Detectives working on the mystery say a tall man in a long overcoat was seen lurking in the vicinity the night of the crime.
The city was shocked by the murder. Judge James Wilson, who knew the school teacher, offered a $500 reward for the arrest of the murderer. The Bedford City Council added another $500 making the reward $1,000.
Coroner Richard Plummer ruled that Miss Shafter suffered three skull fractures. According to his report, two weapons were used including a piece of firebrick that made the cut over the eye and some blunt instrument that produced the skull fractures.
The Pinkerton Detective Agency was called to investigate but Miss Schafer’s murder remains unsolved.
Can you solve the murder the Pinkerton Agency could not?
