Diamond of Deceit and Doubt
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| Mr. and Mrs. Ellis Latham |
Ellis and his wife had a summer residence in Granville, Massachusetts, at Stow Farm, named for its original owners, Volney and Marshall Stow. Stow Farm had spanned across the original Wildcat Road (a section loosely called Stows Road) at the then-junction of the Westfield and Blandford-Granville roads in an area once known as the Stow District, complete with its own schoolhouse. (The Town of Granville established the Stow School District on April 3, 1815.)
In addition to hundreds of acres of farmland and forest, the Stow homestead at one time included at least three homes and several outbuildings, mainly barns and sheds. The Stow family also owned a gristmill and a sawmill near Stow Pond. A short distance south of Marshall Stow's house sat an imposing white two-story building built circa 1810 by Elihu Stow that had operated for about 75 years as a first-class tavern called Pilgrims' Rest. It had a large coachyard and several horse stables that accommodated travelers stopping for a home-cooked meal and overnight guests seeking shelter.
Around 1913, the Lathams hired Wardell Brown, a down-on-his-luck Brooklyn machinist, to live and work on their farm. Wardell had lost a fortune as an inventor who attempted to patent a new excavator as a founding director of The Brown Excavating Machine Company of Brooklyn, incorporated in 1904.
Trouble started in the spring of 1915 when Deputy Sheriff Hartley charged Wardell with animal cruelty for not adequately feeding one of the Lathams' cows. Appearing in Westfield District Court on April 6, Wardell told the judge that Ellis did not provide enough hay and feed for the livestock and that he had to turn some of the animals loose to forage for themselves.
Later that year, Wardell and his wife moved to a farm they rented in nearby Twining Hollow after he and Ellis could not agree on the terms of his employment. On a visit to Latham Springs, Ellis noticed numerous items missing, including two wagons and a harness. He reported the theft to Deputy Hartley.
Deputy Hartley arrested Wardell after a search of his farm turned up a few of the items in question. At his arraignment in Westfield District Court, the judge set bail at $3,000. Unable to pay, the judge jailed him until his trial scheduled for December 14.
At his trial, Wardell wept as he told his story of hardship and misfortune - his mounting debt put on display in open court. The judge also learned that Wardell wanted to open a shop in Granville to manufacture fan handles but lacked the necessary funds. Wardell admitted to taking the Lathams' property and selling some of it for cash, but he insisted that he did so to pay for the materials needed to carry out the work that Ellis requested. The judge did not buy Wardell's story. He sentenced him to one year in the House of Corrections. Wardell appealed.
Employee theft was not the only loss for the Lathams. On April 30, 1918, a fire of unknown origin broke out at Latham Springs. Two workers escaped near death by jumping out of a second-story window of a barn. The blaze destroyed all the farm's buildings on the west side of the road and claimed the lives of about 100 chickens and a collie dog.
Once in a while, Ellis would host a big bash at his country estate, but he and his wife mainly entertained small groups of friends there. And, although Ellis maintained his summer residence for several years, local Granvillians did not know him intimately, often referring to him only as "that rich New Yorker," thanks partially to the lavish diamond ring he wore, said to be valued at $1,000.
Ellis traveled to Latham Springs to meet his wife and others for an extended weekend on Saturday, August 21, 1920. He planned on heading back to Brooklyn on Tuesday.
The events that unfolded next are unclear. However, according to Ellis, two young men wearing black masks entered through the backdoor of his home and into the kitchen around nine o'clock Monday night. He claimed that the men demanded he hand over his diamond ring and other valuables. He said when he refused, they drew guns, and a struggle ensued in the adjoining dining room as they tried to pry open his hand to take the ring off his finger.
Unable to wrestle the ring from Ellis, one of the men fired his gun. One shot struck Ellis in the hand; another grazed his forehead. Still, Ellis would not give up his ring, now clutched in the palm of his hand.
Blood was pouring down Ellis' face as he shouted to the others in the house to go and get help and call for a doctor. (The nearest phone was about a mile away.) In Ellis' account, the masked men saw a woman run down the back staircase, through the woodshed, and out an egress door before disappearing into the darkness. The fighting resumed and continued outside.
Ellis said the bandits forced him against the woodshed and again demanded his ring. But unbeknownst to them, Ellis had dropped the ring into a rain barrel during the melee. Possibly thinking the ring fell off during the fight inside, the masked men returned to the house. Concerned that help would be arriving soon, the men looked hurriedly around the kitchen and dining room floors before hightailing it into the night empty-handed.
Help arrived. First, the woman returned with three men. Shortly after them, Dr. White, who the woman had called, arrived and tended to Ellis' wounds. She had also called Deputy Hartley. Before heading to Stow Farm, Deputy Hartley notified authorities in surrounding towns to be on the lookout for the bandits, describing them as two young men, about 5 feet 11 inches, dressed in dark clothing and wearing caps.
When authorities in neighboring Westfield heard about the hold-up, they thought it possible that the men were involved in the mysterious disappearance of a prominent Whip City woman that had residents there on edge. However, after arriving on the scene, the Westfield officers determined that the two events were unrelated and let Deputy Hartley investigate. (A member of a search team found the missing woman's body at the foot of a high cliff on Tuesday morning. She had a towel and pillowcase saturated with chloroform over her face. A note pinned to her waist led authorities to rule her death a suicide.)
The next day, Deputy Hartley wrapped up his investigation of the Latham matter. He acknowledged that Ellis had gunshot wounds but said he was skeptical of the injured man's attempted robbery story, and as far as he was concerned, there was no outside party involved and that the case was closed. When pressed, Deputy Hartley refused to elaborate further other than saying that there were powder marks near the wounds and inconsistencies in witness statements, among other evidence. He also noted that open liquor was present in the kitchen when he arrived.
Ellis wielded wild accusations against Deputy Hartley, even going as far as publicly accusing the lawman of knowing the would-be robbers and covering up for them. He gave an affidavit to the press, again attacking Deputy Hartley. When the deputy sheriff stood his ground, Ellis said he would hire a private eye from New York to investigate, but it is unclear if he followed through.
In early 1921, the Lathams sold land in Granville to a man connected to The Brown Excavating Machine Company. Details of the real estate transaction are unclear. However, they sold about 200 acres for an estimated $12,000. In 1922, the Lathams regained ownership of the land.
Today, most of Stow Farm is more or less underwater from Cobble Mountain Reservoir; other parts have returned to a lush forest of mature trees. The Stow Farm's buildings, including the former Pilgrims' Rest Tavern, were torn down around 1925 in preparation for the reservoir.
Ellis Clifford Latham died in his Brooklyn home on April 9, 1926. His wife held his funeral in their living room on the following day. He left an estate estimated at $17,946.
Ellis' father was a founding father of Sandwich, Illinois. Before that, he was a Forty-niner, traveling to the Golden State by oxen in 1849 for the great California Gold Rush (1848 - 1855). The brutal, six-month journey was worth it - he struck gold and returned to Illinois in 1852 with a handsome amount of money.
This story appeared in the February 2025 edition of Southwoods Magazine.
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Edited Out/Author's Additional Research Notes
Working Titles: Latham's Tall Tale.
At the time of its completion, the Cobble Mountain dam, built by the City of Springfield, was the highest earthen dam of its type in the world, creating a 22.8 billion gallon reservoir.
The Stow family donated a small plot of land (circa 1811) on what was then North Lane (today's Blandford Road) for a cemetery, with the first body laid to rest there in 1816, three-year-old Alsop Paine Stow, who died on February 2. The Stow family donated additional land (circa 1824) to expand the cemetery. Because of this and that more and more members of the Stow family made it their final resting place, the cemetery became known as Stow Cemetery; void of trees and with no homes nearby, it was a lonely place.
Following the incorporation of the Woodlands Cemetery Association on October 25, 1912, Stow Cemetery officially became Woodlands Cemetery.