The Lost Brothers, A Narrative of Truth or Death of George and Joseph Cox, of Bedford County, Pennsylvania

Printed at Dayton, Ohio for M. T. Dill, 1857.

George, 7, and Joseph, 5, were the sons of Samuel and Susannah Cox. The Cox family lived in a cabin built by Samuel.  The morning of April 24, 1856, Samuel Cox heard his dog barking in the forest and thought that it must have trapped a squirrel in a tree. Samuel retrieved his rifle and headed into the woods. It is thought that while Samuel was gone, the boys must have strayed from home to follow their father. Susannah thought that Samuel had taken the boys with him. It was only when Samuel returned without them that they realized their children were gone. Samuel went for help from his nearest neighbors and by that evening more than one hundred men were searching for the children. Fires were lit in the forest in the hope that the boys would see one. Nearly a thousand people showed up to search the next day.  Still the boys were not found and suspicion fell on Samuel and Susannah Cox. It was thought that they might have murdered their children in the hope of gathering donations from a sympathetic population. The Cox cabin and garden were searched but no bodies were located.