Grand Rapids morning telegram., 1885-08-25
PROBABLY MURDERED.
THs THOMAS HOGAN INQUEST.
Evidence That ne Mas Killed insta0ti,
A Girl who Heard Man
Ssy - Killed Him"

landing last Saturday night, met Al The
County Supervisors Office yesterday morn
ing 10 O'Clock and took the following tss-
timony: Dr. DeCamp who conducted the
autopsy, testified that ia his opinion instan-
taneous death was caused by the blow Oh
the head. delivered by come outside force.
IL would, according - hls experience, obser-
ystiOn and study, be ifnpossible tO cause
sueh a wound by falling from standing pO-
sition and ne thought, from his examination
that death was caused by violence.
j. X. Mentzier. who found tlie body, tostl-
ned IN substance that he saw the body Ia the
water with the head about a foot from the
boom, and tie feet extended outward, a. he
arrived at the landing. lie sound the straw
hat floating ten or fifteen feet from the
boom, and f2 bill between the hat and the
body. A elincker boat was tied above the
body. and there vas only small paddle IN
IT, He saw no one on the island or IA the
vicinity, when be landed, but a little CARL, ap
peared a few minutes later after ho arrived
and recognized the body. The girl was
Nellie Carpenter and she II years old.
DIR. Best said that no went with the patrol
wagon TO the boat landing Saturday night,
and had witnessed the examination OF the re-
mains and assisted at the autopsy. The body
was still warm when he arrived ON the scene,
but life was extinct. There was no water ia
the lungs. In his opinion death was instan-
taneous from the effects of the blow the
head before the body touched the water lie
thought II impossible for man To fall and
lnfiict the wounds shown on the face. There
were no other injuries or bruises about the
body.
Detective Cast told his experience in rescu -
ing the body from the water, and 1t was IN
substance the same as Mr.. MentZler's testI-
mony. The hip pocket and one of the other
pockets were turned inside out, and no money
was found on the person. The watch and
chain were III the pockets.
The jury then adjourned till 3 O'Clock in
the afternoon. Upon reassembling Nellie
Carpenter testified that she knew Thomas
Hogan; she played on the Island almost
| every day; saw the deceased ON Saturday
| morning at O'Clock; on Saturday night
| about o'clock she went To the island to look
| for her brother and heard that somebody
| was drowned; went TO the channel and saw 4
| ~ bill and a straw hat floating on the water
and his body lying IN the water; there was
some one coming up the channel in boat.
Robert Finch sworn, and said
am member of the firm of Stewart i
| FIuch, and We have the contract of dredg-
| ing the river. | was down the river. near
the Lake Shore Railroad crossing when the
| steamer Barrett" came along; | rowed out
TO it and got on, and brought my boat up
with me "a far a the old landing, where the
steamer stopped; l then let my boat into
the water and rowed up the channel. Mr..
| Mentzer and his family were Just getting
into their boat as / turned up the channel
and lost sight of them. When l ran my
boat along the side of the boom
| the deceased was locking up the
boat-house. l asked him where he was go
ing and he said to supper. / said, you can't,
"a two scull boats are coming up the river"
| He fastened my boat and think he picked
up the oars. l got out of the boat and asked
| him how much | owed for the use of the
boat; he said 1925. / handed him 81 bill
and quarter and turned to come away; that
is the last time saw him alive. The next
| time | saw him was when he was lying dead
| In his mothers house on Saturday night. /
| went there with Mr.. Hennessey. | have
worked on the channel dredging and knew
him we'll; that was why L went
to see him when / heard of his
/ death. There was carriage of some kind
| going onto the island as | was coming away
| but cannot say whether there was any per
| son riding In it or not. IL would have to 90
| on the island to turn around as 1t had left
the road and could not turn otherwise.
| had the cllnker boat No. 20; did not notice
what he did with the money gave him. He
| never had much change about him that
| know of. / never heard anybody say n word
| against Tom. When / left there went up
| Waterloo street to Monroe, then up Canal
| to the Clarendon house where | stay.
Peter Hugenot, hack k-driver, said: knew
Thomas Hogan by sight, was not personally
| acquainted with him; at about 4:2O Saturday
afternoon drove Mr.. Cody and Mr.. Nor
! throp to the island and went back for them
about 6:l0. When was going on the island
for them a man with long, grey whiskers was
| coming from the island on the narrow rise
He was going toward the road; would know
him again If | saw him; cannot see anybody
here | could recognize rs the man.
Nellie Miller said she lived on Calder
street; knew Thomas Hogan did not
see hIm on Saturday; heard OF
his death on Saturday about p. m.
| from her sister and they went down Oak
street toward the channel. My sister wa
about half a block ahead of me when | met
three men going East, one man asked the
other If he was dead. TO which he replied
"Yes, killed him, but didn't mean to dc
it," Then Que of them said, "You shut your
Cd d-n mouth" After he said this they
commenced walking quite faste 1t was
about two blocks from the river. | then
went to the river and man told me he was
dead. The man who said he killed him wa.
between the other two. He wore An old
grey coat and straw hat. Hi.
me. think I could recognize
him if sas him. The two men who wers
With him were short built and had dsrb
clothes and slo1ch hats on. | did not tel
any one what had heard till Sunday morn
ing. At the breakfast table. and when ! told
il they said shosld have spoken sbou
IL before.
Kittie Miller testified substantially tns
same a. her sister, excepting that she had
not heard the man who passed her speaking
"a she was on the other side Of the ROAD
when they passed BY.
| J. l. Neal said he was At Crawford
grocery store on Saturday night. after h
had heard of the affair, and an intoTicates
man came and stopped in front O
the store snl m1ttered something ~
thought IL vas. That man il 'blz iniBn
down there: veil. that aint So bad TIA
man getting drowned" The fellow VA
obout feet inches IN height he wore
stif brown hat. brown coat and dsrl
pants. his hair and moustache vss daFi
/ brown.
All the witnesses having been eNamine'
the Jury deIiberated on the case for sOm
time and adjourned tiil wednesday morninl
A. - O'Clock. The general opinion Of th
juryrnen "a that Roberf Finch hsd uothinz 3