Unknown, Male – d. 1885

UNKNOWN

Posted By: Volunteer
Date: 12/26/2022 at 10:03:39

Dead Man Found – On May 11 ’85, at about five o’clock in the evening, a 9-year-old son of A. L. Beem living on the farm of Connell & Walters, on Whiskey Bottom found the dead body of an unknown man lying under the edge of a stack of hay, on said farm over a mile from the house and about eighty rods from the C. & N.W, track. The coroner was notified and proceeded to hold an inquest. C. J. Berger, W. H. Seamans and R. C. Lewis were selected as jurors, and after examining the body and hearing the evidence returned as their verdict “that deceased came to his death in a way and manner to the jury unknown.” There was nothing found on the body by which it could be identified but the general opinion was that the deceased was a German of unsound mind and probably 40 or 45 years old. Ten or twelve little packages were found in his pockets carefully wrapped and tied, These proved to be little pieces of wood or cornstalk or an old suspender button wrapped with 8 or 10 pieces of cotton cloth and tied with wrapping twine. He had a great many scraps of paper, mostly German. He had a Wier Plow Co.’s calendar for 1885, furnished by Maytag & Bergman, Newton, Iowa, also an old envelope addressed to Mr. Hinrich W. Otten, Haldane, Ogle Co, Illinois, North America, with a German stamp on it. The body had probably laid there several months. Deceased was brought to Toledo and buried in the Toledo cemetery – Tama City Free Press
Source: The Newton (IA) Journal; Wednesday, May 20, 1885, page 2