The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1884-01-04
Frozen to Death.

The Wilkes-Barre Record gives the
following account of the finding of
dead man in the lower end of Luzerne
county
"Some time during Friday forenoon
tracks were discovered crossing the
river on the ice short distance this
side Of Shickshinny, which the parties
making the discovery, in their igno-
rance OF ursal anatomy mistook for the
trail OF bear, forgetting that a bear
being quadruped, would necessarily
make twice as many tracks as a man,
! consequently the distances between
must be in a corresponding measure
shorter But they were fully bent up
on following up the supposed bear and
to capture him if possible. The trail
was plainly marked in the light snow
and followed up towards Klines saw
mill. two miles away, where they dis
covered that the animal, whatever it
was, had broken through the ice, but
had gotten out and gone on to near the
saw mill. Here it crossed and recross-
ed the river, and in doing so broke
through the river FIVE times, but still
went on. The trail there left the river
and was followed to where the creature
had made sort of nest in an old tree
top and crawled into the brush for a
rest From this point the tracks re-
turned TO near the track of the North
~ West Branch r.. r., where at about
2 o'clock The body of an unknown man
was discovered lying in the snow with
40 clothing on except an undershirt
aud red flannel drawers pulled down
over the feet, upol which we've pair
OF cotton stockings. Otherwise the
body was void of any clothing what
ever. a pair of pantaloons were found
at short distance. There was moth
ing about the body or clothing by
which it could be identified. The cloth
ing was of fair quality, showing that
the man had evidently not been of the
genus tramp. He was apparently from
25 to 80 years of age, feet Z inches
in height, weight about 14O pounds.
He had pretty heavy sandy brown hair
and light colored moustache. There
was scar on the forehead with a de-
preston of skull over the right eye par
allel with the forehead. He was evil
IDENTIFY not miner as no marks of coal
were found anywhere on his person.
Mondays issue says:
Further investigations have thrown
some additional light on the case of the
unknown man found frozen to death
near Shickshinny on Friday. On Sat
urday morning his coat, vest and shoes
were found on the river bank not far
from Shickshinny, proving that he had
wandered in semi-nude condition
much farther than at first believed. In
one of the pockets of the coat was a
memorandum book in which was writ
ten note, dated Cleveland, Ohio, rec
ommending the bearer, John Robinson,
to parties in Pittsburgh. The note
stated that he was capable stone cut
ter, able to take the foremanship of
yard. There was also certificate to the
effect that John Robinson was member
of the Stone Cutters Association of
Pittsburg. kilograms were sent to
Cleveland and Pittsburg aud an an
swer was received from the former
place that no such man was known
there. We have not heard of any re-
ply from Pittsburg. There is now no
doubt that the unfortunate man died
from exposure, and was probably de-
ranged. No valuables were found in
any of the clothing.