The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-12-26
Unknown Drowned Man
Found in the Bay Off
Howard Street.
His Purse and q Nickel Picked
Up on the Wharf Where
He Fell.
Murder Theory Dissipated by a State
raent Made to Sailor Booth by
Two Witnesses.

An unknown man, supposed to be
sailor, was found drowned yesterday
morning early off the Howard-street
wharf. The body was recovered by
John Swanson and Harry Kraft. They
rolled the corpse on a barrel, believing
that life was not yet extinct, and when
Policeman Caster came along he had
the remains conveyed to the HarbOr
Receiving Hospital, where it was found
that the man had been dead for some
time.
The Receiving Hospital surgeons dis
covered that the pockets Of the dead
man had been turned inside Out-which
has been the case with almost every
corpse that has been recovered from
the bay for several years past. 1t is
believed that the persons first finding
dead bodies floating plumber them Of
whatever valuables they may be pos
sessed and turn them loose again to be
picked up by innocent parties.
The suspicious circumstance in the
present case is the fact that a buck
skin purse, containing 3 cents, was
picked up near the end of Howard
street wharf shortly after the finding
of the dead man in the water. This is
a fact which lends color to the theory
that murder and robbery might have
been committed.
The hands of the deceased showed
that he was a man who earned his
living by severe manual labor, ano his
general appearance leads to the belief
that he was a sailor of Danish, SWed-
ish or Norwegian extraction, between
80 and 80 years old. He was dressed in
a suit of black clothes, with black but
tons of bone or horn, white shirt and
collar and dark bow tie. His stockings
were brown or tan, tipped and heeled
with white. The hair and eyebrows
are brown, with sandy mustache; the
eyes light blue and the nose slightly
aquiline. A small bag of tobacco and
a pipe were found in the coat pockets.
The body was taken to the Morgue,
where it viii be held for some days for
Identification. A small patch of skin
had been rubbed off the right cheek
bone and another off the chin, and
those marks were caused, in all proba-
bility, by the body having been washed
by the tide against the foot of the
wharf.
Harry Kraft, who resides in the Cal
ifornia House, on the corner of East
and Folsom, called at the Coroner's Of
fee shortly before o'clock yesterday
afternoon and delivered to Deputy Cor
'sOneF MCCORMICK an Old-Style puck
skin purse and a nickel which he anC
a man named Swanson found on the
wharf at the foot of Howard street
after they had recovered the body. He
and Swanson jumped into a boat, anC
when they pulled the corpse on board
they were surprised to see that his
pantaloOns were unbuttoned and one
of his pockets pulled inside out
A. ]. Booth, a sailor residing in the
same house as Kraft, also informed
Mr.. Mccormick that two young men
one about is and the other about q
years old, told him shortly before Z
O'Clock in the morning that they saw
the deceased staggering about the
wharf drunk, and that they laughed
at his funny antics after his hat fel
overheard. AS soon as they saw hin
fall over the stringpiece they raised the
cry, Man overboardI' They explained
to Booth that they lived in Oakland
and. having missed the last boat, were
spending the time pending the start.
ing of the first beat in lettering about
the wharves.
Kraft was in a saloon near by anC
heard the cry of Man overheard.
That was what attracted his attention
and induced him and Swanson to at
tempt the rescue.