St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-07-23
UNDER THE WAVES
SUCH IS THE PROBABLE FATE
OF POLICE SERGEANT JOHN.
ZIRKELBACH.
WENT OUT ALONE In A BOAT
AT WHITE BEAR, AND THE
CRAFT DRIFTED ASHORE La
TER, DRY, BUT EMPTY.
MOST LIKELY AN ACCIDENT.
AS One of the Oars Was Missing
and u Trolling Line Was in
Position.

Police Sergeant Zirkelbach, whose
! disappearance was announced in
/ yesterdays G l o b e, was doubtless
i drowned Saturday afternoon he
went to White Bear lake. He then
! embarked in a row boat, which
! drifted ashore later bearing the SER
! geants coat and a single oar. The
| body has not yet been recovered.
Whether the officers death was
accidental or otherwise cannot now
! be decided. His sudden and secret
| departure from home, his apparently
/ aimless journey, and his brooding
! melancholy for the past month
] would indicate suicide. But the miss
] ing oar, the trolling line still at
| tached to the boat, the high wind
prevailing Saturday at White Bear,
! and the cheerful temper exhibited
by Zirkelbach previous to starting
mere accident.
When the sergeant left St Paul
union depot shortly before noon last
! Friday, as already related, he evil
IDENTIFY took a train for Still
/ water. John Schultze, of this city, an
old friend of Zirklebach's, reported
, yesterday that he met the latter in
Saltwater Friday afternoon. A gem
eral conversation was followed by
promise on the part of the SER
geant to meet Schultze at the sta
ton towards evening and accom-
pany him back to ST Paul. Schultze
was at the station on time, but Zir-
kelbach did not appear. 1t has been
I aScertalned that the sergeant passed
Friday night at the Northwestern
| hotel in Saltwater, and that he left
Saturday morning for st. Paul by
way Of White Bear He stopped over
at the latter point. During the morn
ing he met and conversed at the vii
iage station with n. P. Langford. of
29l South Exchange street. Zirkel-
| bach had arrived from Saltwater on
the S:l5 train In the course of the
| forenoon he spent some time with
, Joe Hart, who is bartender at Fry's
saloon near the Lake Shore station.
| The sergeant explained to Hart that
he had been visiting his brother in
saltwater, and was feeling very
tired. At Harris suggestion, he went
into rear room of the saloon and
lald down for about twenty minutes.
1hen he came out to the bar and
drank a few small glasses of beer.
Meantime he remained entirely So
Der, and appeared cheerful and un-
disturbed. About ! o'clock
HE SECURED A BOAT
from the johnson boat house be-
tween Ramaley's pavilion and the
Lelp house. The waves were run
ming very high. The sergeant re-
moved his coat, seated himself in
the boat, and began rowing vigor-
! ousIy across the lake in the direc-
ton of WILDWOOD Hart saw him
last when the boat was near the
yacht club buoy, and was turning
in toward the bay in front of Cot
tage Park. Hart waved his hand
kerchief. The sergeant waved his
hand in return. Nearly three hours
later the boat drifted in to Lea
mans dock, three-juarters of a mile
toward the north, where it was
found by Nook Richards. 1t was
| entirely dry, and evidently had not
been overturned. Only one oar re-
manned in the oarlocks. The black
Prince Albert coat which the ser
geant had removed contained sim
ply a handkerchief. The trolling
line fastened to one of the cross
seats had been dragging a quantity
OF weeds, which thus prevented the
boat from drifting more rapidly.
For some reason it did not occur to
! any one who heard of the boats
coming ashore that an accident
might thus be indicated. There
fore the circumstance was not an
nounced until yesterday.
So soon as the central station was
Informed Of the above facts by Mar
shall Tubbesing, of White Bear, Capt.
Walsh and Officer Ryder were de-
tailed by Chief O'Connor to make
every effort to recover the SER
geant's body. Walsh and Ryder, to-
gether with Reuben A. Wright and
w. H. Gardner, the drowned mans
brother-in-law and son-in-law, re-
spectively, started to White Bear at
1910 p. m. They spent the entire
afternoon tracing the actions of the
sergeant while at the lake, and To-
! eating, as far as possible, the prob
| able vicinity of the disaster They
would have begun operations for
| securing the body, but were, uneX-
pectedly, unable to secure at the
| lake any apparatus fitted for the
purpose.
This morning the same party will
go out to White Bear again. They
have decided to use a graphing
line composed of a cord seventy-five
feet long suspended between two
row boats, and bearing a number of
large fish hooks.