MURDER MYSTERY FRIDAY

MURDER IN THE MANSION

Chapter Five

MILLICENT

Millicent was born in 1874.  Nine years after the Civil War.  On the birth certificate she was named,  Millicent Elizabeth Spencer.  The only daughter of 

Benjamin & Lillian Spencer.  Her father was the cereal king.

Who knew that a breakfast food,  oat meal, would bring in so much wealth.  Let a lone start every one's day with something hot in their belly's. 

Being the first born,  she traveled with her father all over.

She learned the business from the ground floor up and would be her father's right hand man in his later years.  She was educated in the best schools and went on to study at Smith College.  She would also, fight for women's rights.

An early feminist,  she didn't like women being treated as second class citizens.

One day in 1905, her beloved father died suddenly of a stoke in his office.

Dead before he even hit the floor.  After the funeral and the reading of the will,  Millicent became one of the richest women in America.  50 million dollars richer on that day.

She run the company until she met and fell in love with one,

William Harrison Bingham.  She and her husband traveled all over Europe and Asia before setting up housekeeping in the Hudson River Valley.

William had made his fortune in oil refinement.  Millie decided to give up the cereal business to become a great lady?  She let her younger brother Arthur have the company,

and she would live out her days in Wood Haven and raise a family.  Arthur would turn the company around and make even more money than his sister had.

Mr. Bingham was very successful in the business of oil, having amassed a fortune of over 250 million dollars.

Bingham Oil was all over the country.

He and Millie had three sons,  Christopher,  Gordon and Thomas.  Each being groomed to take over their families business when the time came.  And it did in 1956.

William Harrison Bingham had died in his sleep on June 15th, three days after their wedding anniversary.

Chris always told me that there was a question mark there.

As my husband and I would find out later,  the date of June 15th is significant to this story.


(Thank you, Curtis for letting me tell my story.  Janet)



copyright 2013 Curtis Boehringer Mysteries


If you are reading and quilting along, your next block
will be a four patch.
9 1/2" x 9 1/2" with the seam allowance.
( 9" x 9") finished.  Cut six. Iron and set aside.

Use a green print with white and solid green fabric.
We are making a scrap quilt made of many colors.


See you next week with Chapter Six.
13 in all.

Till we meet again,