On a recent outing to Opposition Cemetery, we stumbled across one particular headstone with a striking engraving, the words read “My Darling Boy Was Slain In The Dark”. Naturally this sparked our interest.
News accounts in August 1931 stated that Cecil Ellison, age 20 of Ravenden, was reported to have last been seen around 1am on August 29th 1931 walking down the tracks in Ravenden. Witnesses reported to authorities that Ellison was intoxicated.
Three young boys discovered Ellison’s badly mangled body around 6am that morning. Initial reports stated that Ellison was believed to have been struck by a Frisco passenger train during the night.
Fast forward to September 10th 1931, Frisco Special Agents announced that a bloody club with hair on it was found in a downtown Ravenden alley leading the Special Agents to believe that Ellison was likely murdered and his body placed on the railroad tracks where it was struck by a train to divert suspicion. Agents attempted to trace Ellison’s activities leading up to his death in an effort to determine a motive.
Ellison’s father was a Section Foreman for the railroad. Cecil Ellison was reported to be survived by his parents, two brothers Frank and Albert, two sisters Gladys and Hilda.
No record could be found of anyone being charged with the young man’s death.
