GHOST 5: Robert Waddell, 1907 - Main Street - Plymouth, CA
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Robert Waddell was born on June 5, 1834, in Belmont, Ohio, to Rebecca Goodman and A. Waddell. Somewhere in the early 1870s, Robert moved to Plymouth. He tried his hand at mining but resumed his first career – that of a policeman. Sometime in the 1870s, Robert moved in as a boarder of dwelling 336 in Plymouth. The home belonged to Samuel and Mary Coleman.
Four years younger than the matron of the house, Robert developed a crush that turned obsession on the woman who cooked and cleaned for he and seven other men. On the 1880 Census, Samuel is listed as “hotel keeper” and his wife: “keeping house.” Most of the boarders are listed as some sort of mine worker or laborer. Robert was the sole professional.
Robert never presented as a wealthy man. He spent much of her free time in the parlor or trailing after Mary – listening to her many stories. Hearing her tales of hidden gold.
On December 3 of 1880, Mary died of suspicious circumstances. Robert moved to a small cabin on the edge of town. He lived alone and was known as a skinflint about town. He took a job as a watchman at the Plymouth Consolidated until its shutdown. After that, Robert stayed much to himself, taking odd jobs and socializing with only one or two friends - including Mervin Leach and Lawrence Burke. He took one meal a day at a restaurant in town but complained he could little afford it.
The July 5, 1907 edition of the Ledger Dispatch reported that, at the insistence of Leach, Robert move to the local hospital – where he died. Before he left, however, he took Leach and Burke into his home, opened his floorboards and pulled out a stash of about $3,000 in gold.
The two were shocked. Word about town was Robert was an admitted pauper. He was leaving his fortune to Leach. When pressed where how he’d amassed such a small fortune, Robert told them men that it began as a collection from the miners at the room and board where he’d lived so long ago. After the events in December 1880 – events he would not elaborate on – he had to live.
Robert Waddell never admitted to having a hand in the death of Mary Coleman. Perhaps, he didn’t. Perhaps, it was a jealous husband. No one is left who knows for sure. What Mary and Robert rest alone, in separate graves, at the Plymouth Pioneer Cemetery – until December 3 – on that solitary day, a cold spot exists between their graves.
That, and well, the fact that the perceived pauper Robert Waddell was not so poor after all.
Face the Plymouth Hotel - to the right is where Robert wanders alone and searching - only to retreat back to the graveyard one day per year - August 16 - the day he met Mary for the first time.
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