The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1884-05-08
ANDREW YEACER.
THE OORONER'S JURY ASORIBE HIS
DEATH TO ACCIDENTAL
DROWNING.
Light Thrown Upon the Case
by Witnesses From the
Country.

| The testimony adduced before the
coroners' jury Wednesday was sub
stantially as reported in yesterdays
STATEsMAN, with the exception of the
testimony of A. c. Champion, an ex
county commissioner, who lives on
the Bull creek road, and his testimony
was of little or noimportance, develop
ing only the fact that he had seen two
men on a raft floating down
stream above Bull creek falls DIR.
w. J. Burt's report as a result of the
autopsy, was also given then, and was
entirely in keeping with the report
| published in yesterdays STATENAN.
At 10 o'clock yesterday morning the
| jury resumed their sitting, and pro-
ceeded to examine the two witnesses
sent after Wednesday evening.
G.Y. MONKEYS TESTIMONY.
G. Y. Monkey, SWORD, testified:
On Monday, April 27, 1884, at about
8 a. m, Andrew Yeager and l started
with raft OF wood on the Colorado
river, little below Nelson's house,
and when we got about two or three
hundred yards from where we started
the raft struck rock in shallow wa
Ter. We succeeded in getting it off,
|
dred Yards when we struck another
rock and fastened. Yeager told me to
stay with the raft and hold it on the
rock so that ne, Yeager, could go and
save some OF the loose wood afioat
coming out OF the raft. He jumped
OH OF the ra1t ana started to the lower
end OF the raft, the Upper end being
fastened to the rock. was irving to
foe bn CO hnf
come out of the raft. The raft then
got loose from the rock and ! was
holding the same the best | could and
was bracing myself against the rock
then heard Yeager halloo. He was
about one hundred yards down the
river from me: [ could not
as the south wind was very
high. Then heard some one else on
the bank hal DING to me, and saying
for me to go and help that man-that
he was drowning. told him to come
and assist me. He said he had no
boat. l did not have boat with the
raft. 1 told him that there was
boat about hundred and seventy-five
yards up the river, and to run up there
and get it. He went as fast as he
could, got the boat and went down
stream toward the drowning man.
Yeager hallooed sew, raj times
before the boat was gotten. l at
first followed to Yeager that
1 could not hold the raft as it had
gotten loose. l did not think then
that Yeager was in any danger. 1
stayed with the raft. From where l
was to where l saw Yeager the last
time was about 100 or $50 yards, and
Yeager was about half mile from
Bull creek falls. The boat was abont
even with the raft when 1 saw Yea
ger last. l asked the man in the boat
if 1 should go with him? He said that
he did not think l coulu do any good
We searched for him all that
evening and until late next morning.
When Yeager was last seen it was be-
tween eleven and twelve o'clock. Yea
ger, when he left the raft, had on but |
his pants and shirt.
GEORGE MILLS TESTIMONY.
Being duly sworn, e. w. Mills said !: |
The statements of G. Y. Monkey are |
correct. When passed the raft with |
the boat l started down to |
where [ had then just seen
the man who was drowning. |
When l got there, or about where l |
thought he was when | had seen him, |
[ saw him in q different direction |
Once more l started to him, but did |
not see him again. When l last saw
him he was about fifty yards from me- |
| did not know the man on the raft, |
or who ii was drowning, but could |
see that the man was drowning. / |
heard afterwards that it was Yeager |
who was drowned.
THE VERDICT.
The following is the verdict of the |
jury:
We, the jury of inquest over the |
dead body Of Andrew Yeager, deceas-
ed, find that he came to his death on |
April %, 1884, at about IL or
IL o'clock a. NJ, in Travis county, |
Texas, In the Colorado river, by |
accidental drowning.
Us BOWLES, Foreman.
The theory now held with regard to |
the drowning is, since Yeager had |
both pants and shirt on at the time of |
leaving the raft, and only his shirt on
when the body was taken from The
water, that his pants either came
loose or he attempted to pull them off
while in the water, and his feet be-
coming entangled, was drowned be-
fore assistance could get to him. The
wrench in his neck, and the conditions
arising therefrom are explained by
virtue of his having been swept over
the falls before life had become ex-
tinct, it being well-known that the
force of the current could have caused
the dislocation without the outside as
sistance of rocks or anything else.
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