Daily Kennebec journal., 1876-08-08
THE MYSTERY SOLVED !
The River Gives up Its Dead !!
FINDING. OF THE BODY OF ELLA
LOUISA CLHPP.


rull Particulars ofthis Mysterious Case.
| The great mystery Of the missing Clapp gil
has at last been solved. Yesterday forenoon about
ten o'clock all that the decaying tooth of Time
had left of the mortal remains Of Miss ELLA
| LOUISA CLAPP were found in the boom Of the
steam mill formerly Kennebcc Land and Lumber
Company near the east side of the Kennebec
river.
! The history of the mysterious disappearance of
| Miss Clapp is doubtless well known to all our
readers. The interest on account of it was not
confined to this locality, but extended throughout
New England and was the universal subject Of
comment. On Thursday, October lith last, at
quarter past six o'clock P NJ, Miss Ella Louisa, "a
years of age, daughter Of Mr.. Joseph ii. Clapp,
started from her fathers house on Oak street, in
a thickly settled neighborhood with the avowed
intention Of proceeding to tie office of her phys
| ician, DIR. Bell, only a short distance from her
fathers residence. She had been ill for some
time from the effects of heart disease and for sew
eral weeks had been considerably depressed. Her
mother wished to 60 with her, but Ella preferred
| to 90 alone, stating that it made her nervous to
have any of the family with her in consulting with
| the doctor. 1t appears she did not 60 to the doc
| tor g and from that time until yesterday morning
| nothing had been heard from her by her family or
| friends, although the most diligent search was
made and inquiries made in every direction To
add to the mystery, the evening bright and
beautiful, full moon shining at the time, but
one was able to see her after she crossed her
C, tbrnsI IolI
| theory was advanced concerning the disappear
ance, but every known theory, however wild, was
followed up and finally exploded. Foul play
| darkly hinted at; the air full Of sensational
| stories; strange cries, as of a human being in
deep distress or wild despair, were heard by mid
| night watchers on North street; lady answering
| to her description was seen to enter carriage
State street. near the Unitarian church. nd the
carriage whirl quickly away; one two persons
were suspected of knowing something about what
was at one time supposed to be plain case Of
abduction, bat nothing was elected to warrant the
| bringing OF any serious charges against suspected
| individuals the theory of suicide seemed the
most probable, and was most generally accepted,
though this rejected by the late Mr.. Hartford,
who diligent in the search for the missing
one, and by others who knew her shrinking tmid
nature. But all in vain the mystery remained
myseiy still, and the public seemed to finally settle
down to the distressing thought that human being
| may be boted from ey ystencc in very midst anG
| the community remain as ignorant Of the blow
| that fell as they of the whereabouts Of the
| poor body that had so suddenly disappeared from
! their sight.
| But after nearly tea months waiting, the waters
have given up their dead, and the distressed fami-
ly ard friends at last relieved from the terrible
| uncertainty more fearful even than death itself
Yesterday forenoon, about ten o'clock, little
| boy in passing over the logs in the steam mill
boom. found the body Of Miss C;app about 30 feet
from the cast shore, portion of which had risen
10 the surface. Coroner Libby was called but he
deemed the calling of jury unnecessary as the
body very easily identified that oil the m iss-
| ing girl, from gold sleeve button, two artificial
teeth that had been filed and identified
| by DR.. Briggs, the dentist doing the work,
and by the clothing remaining about her
person. The body, except in some parts,
in good state of preservation, more perfect than
some bodies than have remained in the water but
fortnight, showing that the body must have been
covered With water from the time of the disap-
|
from the head and face and one of the hands was
that Of skeleton, but the clothing had prevented
the falling off of the flesh from the body, arms
and limbs. The body was covered with under
garments, corset, dress and a dark polonnaise
| overskrt. On one hand was glove. The feet
were embedded in the sand and debris at the bot
tom of the river, that on removal the flesh
glided from the bones, leaving the boot embedded
| in the mud. ON the other foot was a serge cloth
boot.
| Tie story of suicide has thus been fully estab
lshed If the gil threw herself into the river above
the dam, the body might have been caught by some
obstruction, and retained until the spring freshes
| and the rising water had seized upon it and, by
| the currents and cdlies. drfted it to the place
| wheie it was found This may be the result even
if the act Of suicide had been committed at any
| other point on the river, either the eastern or
western side The body evidently drifed into this
shallow place, where the water at low tide is but
about two feet in depth. The bottom is made up
of edgings, sawdust and light sand, and is variable
and changeable and very uneven. Drifting in
here, her clothing and hair caught against
the projecting edgings and other stuff, and kept
at the bottom, thus holding the body under water,
and pinning it. 1t might have been in this place
several months. The body was prevented from
rising by being held down by the hair and feet;
the hair giving away by the scalp being drawn
from the head, the remains were partially released
from the vice by which they were held, and allow
cd to rise, AMI reveal the ystery that had so long
been concealed. The remains were deposited in
the family lot in the cemetery.
The Knot United.
The following divorces were granted at the re-
cent term of the Supreme Judicial Court in this
city:
Melvina S Heath vs.. Henry A. Heath. Cause,
neglect to provide suitably for family. Custody