Deplorable Tragedy: A Family's Mystery Answered

Deplorable Tragedy, set in the late 1800s, is about Mitchell and May Plummer. They each have events in their pasts that have resulted in disappointment for them and their families. Mitchell was dismissed from his teaching position, accused of homosexuality, resulting in him having to go into banking with his stepfather, something he adamantly did not want to do. May suffers from extreme mood swings and had a scandalous relationship with an older man. She has resigned herself to a life of spinsterhood, working in her brother-in-law’s store.

They meet and marry, finding happiness with each other. Two daughters are born to them and they are looking forward to leaving his parents’ house and moving into a home of their own. However, Mitchell’s mother is convinced May is deranged and begins a campaign to ensure their departure from Bangor. The conflict results in the couple leaving Maine and moving to the small town of Scranton, Mississippi where Mitchell assumes the position of cashier in a bank. They thrive in Scranton, both participating in community affairs and clubs. There are glowing articles in the local newspaper of their entertaining, and Mitchell especially, is often written up describing his various successes in shooting and baseball.

Edgar Hamlin (E H), a newspaper columnist from New Orleans, becomes a close friend to them both—so close he moves to Scranton. There is an electric attraction between the three of them; between Edgar and May and a simmering chemistry that teases the two men. May and Edgar embark on an affair. Mitchell is oblivious to the affair, the financial and banking problems occurring in the country due to a depression, overwhelming him.

May becomes pregnant and is unsure of the father. In the third trimester, she descends into a severe depression and is given morphine by a doctor. A different doctor takes her off the drug and she delivers another girl. The baby is sickly and dies the following year. A year and a half later, they have another baby girl.

May accidently lets slip a hint about the affair, a suspicious seed that festers in Mitchell’s mind. When he finally confronts her, and she confesses, Mitchell is devastated. In addition to his personal problems, his bank is undergoing seismic changes decreed by a new president, who has taken a personal dislike to Mitchell.

Rumors, no longer laudatory, begin to circle about the Plummers, and Edgar. May is benumbed from her medications, again including morphine. Mitchell, under unending attack at the bank, is demoted. He is devastated, panicked he will not be able to support his family or face his community. May is as good as dead. He can’t live without her...

On April 26, 1989 The Pascagoula Democrat Star reported: “Mr. H.M. Plummer, the well-known cashier of the Scranton State Bank…deliberately stepped before a looking glass, and, with a cigarette in his mouth, places [sic]a Smith and Wesson 38 caliber revolver to his right temple…while Mrs. Plummer was under the influence of the opiate…[from which she died].