Daily Republican., 1881-07-16
TWO MISSING MEN,
JAMES FINAN AND THE CRAZY
STRANGER.
Was the Drowned Man Either
"r Nezttser Of Them--A Puz.
sling Case.

EdWnru Downs called at the KEPUB
hICAN cffice this morning making in
'auiry for James Finan, who has beel
missing since last Tuesday forenoon
MIR. Downs thought that the description
of the man found drowned in the Chris
Iiana on Wednesday last, might cor
respond with that Of Finau. He had a
conversation with the city editor of thi.
paper who saw the drowned man anG
took a minute description of him and
the general details correspoEded very
closely. Finan when he left home wa.
dressed in blue coat and vest and lighl
pants, and the corpse was similarly
dressed. Finan, like the corpse, had
dark hair and moustache aud was OF !,
build inclined to be ,toutish.
He boarded where Downs does on
Fourth street near Lombard, with vii.
liam Mooney, and had been making
that his home for about two weeks. He
is a oung man of over twenty but looks
to be thirty. E'inan was an Irishman
and machinet by trade, and had
formerly worked at Edgemoor On
Tuesday he left the house To 90 to Bett 5
Machine shop tn try and get employ
ment. He had been drinking hard, and
was thought to be slightly deranged at
the time. Taking lunch done up in Il
piece of paper in one pocket and some
small tools which he might need in
another he started to look for work and
that was the last seen Of him. He had
no reason TO leave his boarding house
in this manner, and the fact that he did
not appear to be in his right mind has
led the people at Mr.. Moonry Us to think
chat harm has come to him.
The only thing that tends to show
that the drowned man is not Finan is
the fact that he had no money in his
pocket when he left the house, while
81. % were found in the pocket of the
dead man, and that no tools were found
on the person OF the corpse, while vi
nan had a number of small tools with
him when he disappeared. This is at
counted for by Mr.. Downs, however,
with the suggestion that Finan mi sht
possibly have sold the tools.
THE CRAZY STRANGER,
Close on the heels of this comes anotll.
er matter tending to make the identity
)t the man that was drowned more COM
plica'ed. 1t will be remembered that
the coroner's jury was unable to estab-
j sh his identity and rendered a verdict
hat the deceased (unknown) came to
MS death from drowning. The RErrH-
LICAN reporter obt;.iLed evidence max
ng it appear that he was Joseph Bishop,
/ painter Of Philadelphia, who had
worked here at the Pusey x Jones Com
'any's shops. A letter addressed to
Bishop was touud upon hiu. On the
'alne day two men, who said they were
he brothers of Bishop, came here look.
ng for him. They said Pishop was
wrong in his mind when
asst seen on the previous Sunday, hut
allied to indentit'y the drowned man as
heir brother, although such identitica-
ion would not have been difficult, ii he
lad really been Joseph Bishop, for ie-
had scarcely set in. The
!othlug of the man answered the de-
cription of Bishop and also Of the man
Who ran ont the p. w. Il b. track on
londay night aud was thought to he
rowned in the Christiana at farmer
But the strange part, which tends to
lake the case one OF confusion or worse
onfounded, is that there is now evil
ence which goes TO show that the corpse
not that Of the insane stranger, who
let his fate after his fearful twilight
light from imaginary foes This testi-
lony is given by Young man named
eeve, who live, in Stew Castle Hun
red. He says that on Tuesday morn
lg, (the morning after the man wat
ought to be drowned in his effort TO
vim the creek man came to his
ousn and asked for pen, ink and paper
nd something to eat. He looked like
It fleeing stranger; had dark blue coat
Id vest and light pants, and his clothes
Oked as if they had been very wet and
uddy and h;ld dried ON his back. He
Iys he replied to the man thai he had
-tter go to the hotel ut Hare's Corner,
ld the man, making an inaudible and
uttered reply, stumbled away, for he
elned to be tired. He acted queer,
ie "A man wrong in his mind, and Mr. ;
eeve thinks he iG the insane swimmer,
ho did not drown after all. 5
The whole affair has assumed very i
leer phase The man found drowned a
rs not been identified, and he is sup 7
cted of being three persons-.james O
nan, Joseph Bishop and the insane /
ranger thought to have been drowned '
Onday night.