A Most Mysterious Affair: The 1887 Death of Belle Merrick Albaugh

Four weeks after her wedding, young Belle Merrick Albaugh was fatally shot. Was it suicide or murder?

Content warning: This post contains references to suicide. If you or someone you know has a mental illness, is struggling emotionally, or has concerns about their mental health, there are ways to get help. Click here for resources to find help for you, a friend, or a family member.

A dark cloud descended over the Tuscarawas County community of New Cumberland following the marriage of twenty-five-year-old farmer Abraham Lincoln “Link” Albaugh (1861-1925) and nineteen-year-old Corilla “Belle” Merrick (1868-1887) in the fall of 1887. The couple traveled to Constantine, Michigan, to wed on October 1, 1887, a move Belle’s father, Robert Merrick (1842-aft. 1890), later claimed was the result of his daughter being “decoyed” away by Link and his married brother-in-law. Upon their return, Link fell into a state of severe ill health, confining the newlyweds to his father Levi Albaugh’s homestead in Warren Township. Just four weeks into their marriage, on the afternoon of Sunday, October 30, Link’s sickroom was shattered by a single revolver shot that would ignite a sensational legal and media firestorm.

The initial narrative, carefully curated by the Albaugh family, painted a portrait of a young bride driven to self-destruction. According to Link, Belle spent that morning searching for a family revolver which had been hidden by one of his sisters under the peculiar pretense that she wanted to “shoot a cat”. Once she located the weapon, she allegedly entered Link’s sickroom and handed him an old letter to read; while his attention was diverted, she reportedly stepped back, placed the muzzle to her left temple, and fired. Far-off sensational outlets like The Cincinnati Enquirer even claimed a note was found tucked in her bosom stating she “loved another man,” while local reports suggested the note blamed the “oppression” of her parents.

However, the story took a chilling turn when Belle did not die instantly. She survived for three days and nights, and during her final conscious hours, she delivered a bombshell dying declaration to her mother and sisters. Belle emphatically stated that she did not shoot herself, had never written the alleged suicide note, and had not even seen a revolver that morning. She claimed she had been simply talking to her husband when she felt a sudden “shock” and her mind went blank. Her family further alleged that the Albaughs acted as a “bedside guard,” making it difficult for her relatives speak with her in private and tightly clutching the contested suicide note so that Belle’s sisters could not examine the handwriting closely, which they believed to be a forgery.

Anomalies discovered at the scene further dismantled the suicide theory in the eyes of some of the public. Attending physicians noted that the bullet entered the left side of Belle’s head from an awkward and unnatural angle for someone to shoot themselves. More significantly, there were absolutely no powder burns or singed hair surrounding the wound; physical markers that are almost always present in a self-inflicted gunshot wounds. Additionally, neighbors who rushed into the room discovered bloodstains in parts of the bedroom far removed from where Belle was lying, suggesting that Belle may have shot elsewhere in the room before she fell beside her husband’s bed.

As the Merrick family pushed for justice, a scandalous motive emerged involving Link’s brother-in-law. Rumors published in the Dover Reporter pointed to an “undue intimacy” between Belle and the man, leading to speculation that Belle may have been killed to silence a burgeoning family scandal. The brother-in-law visited the offices of a local newspaper to indignantly deny these claims, asserting that Link’s mind was “badly affected” by the tragedy but that the family welcomed an investigation. Meanwhile, the legal maneuvering intensified when Robert Merrick successfully petitioned to have the county prosecutor, J.F. Wilkin, appointed as the administrator of Belle’s estate to gain legal access to her papers and effects.

The mystery reached its climax in February 1888, when a Tuscarawas County Grand Jury convened to weigh the evidence. Over the course of several days, the jury examined a large number witnesses from New Cumberland. Despite the physical discrepancies and Belle’s own dying words, the grand jury ultimately concluded that there was “not sufficient evidence to base an indictment upon,” and the case was officially closed. Link Albaugh eventually recovered and remarried a decade later, but for the citizens of Carroll and Tuscarawas counties, the true story of what happened in his sickroom on October 30 remained an unresolved secret.

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© Noel B. Poirier, 2026.