The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1875-07-15
A Skeleton on Sioux River.

Some twenty years ago the steamer
Kate Sweeney. returning from Fort
Pierre-where she had been with a cargo
of Government supplies-tO st. Louis.
was sDagged and sunk a short distance
above Elk Point. in what has since been
known as Kate Sweeney Bend. In thO-e
DAYS this point was long way from CIV
iliZatiOn, and the officers and crew of the
snnken boat had to make their way out OF
the wilderness and home as best they
could. ALI the crew arrived in st. Louis
l good time excepting two deck-hands,
who had become contrary, separated from
the main body and thought they could
make short cuts of the river bends and
gain time. One of these had $500 in bis
belt, and had wife and two or thu ee
children in st. Louis. He never got home.
His companion returned several months
after, and his old acquaintance asked HIM
what had become of the other man. He
told two or three stories about his lost
eOmrade. One was that they could not
agree upon the best route to take. and so
parted on the prairie. Another was that
he was drowned in trying to swim small
river up in the Indian country. Still an
other, that he had Joined an emigrant
train at Council Bluffs and gone to Cali
fornia. The general opinion of the ac-
quaintanceS of the returned roustabOut
was that he had murdered his companion
IN the wilds of the North Missouri for his
money. Two or three years after this
same rouster was sleeping on the deck of
a steamboat on the wer river, when the
boat ran on bar high and dry, and huge
pile of wood tOppled over on the
sleeping man. His legs were broken, also
80 l.; ~ Dr., Oh
bruised. He suffered two or three days,
died in great misery, was rolled into a
pine box and buried at wood yard on
the river shore. He never mentioned
that he had once been a murderer. Some
days ago farmer was rambling in COM
pany with his little son through the timber
and underbrush which skirt the Sioux
River in search of horse that strayed
away from his farm near by. They stunt
bled upon the skeleton of man nearly
hidden from view by the weeds and brush
that had grown up around and through
it. II was lying under the branches of
large elm, on high bank. a few PAGES
from the waters edge. Most Of the bones
were in their natural position, but some
were thrust aside by a small elm twelve
or fifteen years old which had spung up
among the bones. The man tramped
down the weeds around to get better
view OF the remains, and trod upon some
thing that turned over with his weight.
1t was boat hook, such as deck hands
for handling sacks and bales. The
hook was covered deep with rust, and the
handle crumbled off with q touch. U,on
further search the farmer found a long.
brass handled clasp-knife, such a. rousta-
bouts use when eating to cut their food.
There was hole in the back part of the
skull which looked a. if il had been made
by a blow. 1t is supposed that the skelc-
ton found in the woods on Sioux River is
that of the roustabout of the Kate Swee-
ney. who was lost in the Indian country
in June. 1855. There remains no motive
for examining into the case more closely,
for II there was murder, man who
must have done the murder is long since
dead.-S. Louis Republican.