Malone Farmer, June 27, 1906
When Miss Celia Zehden, a governess, and Miss Lillian Davidson, of New York, entered the deer park of Thomas Blagden at Saranac Inn Saturday to go to a spring for water Miss Davidson was attacked by a doe and only the pluckiness of Miss Zehden saved the girl's life. Miss Davidson was attired in a red gown and it was also thought that the doe had some young in a covert near by. Armed with the bottle they had brought Miss Zehden pounded the deer as best she could, the animal turning on her, striking, with both feet and butting her with its head. She was driven through the park in spite of the blows she rained on the deer's head and her clothing was torn to shreds. Her cries attracted the guides who quickly rescued her.
Chateaugay Record, May 21, 1920
Mrs. Elizabeth Dewitt Severance, wife of a multimillionaire capitalist of Cleveland, O., has purchased Deer Park at Saranac Inn from Thomas Blagden for the sum of $120,000. Mrs. Severance has occupied the camp for several seasons. The property includes several camp sites on the northeast shore of upper Saranac Lake, a large camp and a concrete boathouse. It is said that the building could not be built at this time for less than $200,000. Mr. Blagden purchased the ground several years ago from the Upper Saranac Lake company and spent a large amount of money in improvements. The tract extends over 37 acres. The camp is elaborately fitted out and contains a concrete basement in which there is an artesian well. It also has three great bathrooms elaborately fitted out. The papers in the Deer Park sale stipulate that no business enterprises shall be maintained on the property, and if a sale is contemplated at any time in the future, the Upper Saranac company has the first option of purchase at the price which any bidder may make.
Malone Farmer, January 18, 1922
Since the killing of 4 or 5 deer at Blagden park, Saranac Inn, during the open season, Harold W. Main has been quietly investigating the case for J. L. Severance, of Cleveland, Ohio, the owner of the property. As a result of this investigation, five Lake Placid youths, Ralph Winch, William Hayes, Orson Vassar, Clarence Sawyer and George Orr, were arrested last week on the charge of petit larceny and taken before Justice Emerick Bruce, of Santa Clara, who had them arraigned in the guide house at Saranac Inn. The hearing was adjourned till Jan. 20th, bail $200 each being given. The same youths were arrested the day after the killing, but they were discharged for lack of evidence, though the game officials felt morally certain that the men were guilty. It is said that a deer head taken to a Saranac Lake taxidermist to be set up contained slits in the ears which have enabled the caretaker of the park to identify it as of the tame buck which he had so often fed.
Sources:
- "A Mountain View: A Memoir of Childhood Summers on Upper Saranac Lake" by Lewis Spence (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2002). This book is largely concerned with John R. Dunlap and his camp "Woodwil," but describes a visit to the Deer Park on pages 41-2.
