The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-08-11
IS THIS ANOTHER MURDER?
BODY OF UNKNOWN MAN
FOUND ON RIVER BANK
South St. Paul Has a Mystery on Its
Hands-The Body Bears Evi.
dence of Violence "A Deed or
Mortgage in One Of the Pockets
Furnishes a Clue-Dakota COun-
ty Authorities Are Notified.

The body Of an unknown man was
found near the edge of the river in
a clump Of willows, on an island OPP
posite Lincoln park, just within the
southern limits of the city of South st.
Paul, yesterday morning.
Mike Frawley was fishing and found
the body, and at once notified the city
authorities. Mayor Henderson tele-
phoned Coroner Johnson at Hastings,
who viewed the body and turned it
over to Undertaken Parker, Of South
st. Paul, and 1t will be buried today
In the South st. Paul cemetery,
The body was lying upon Its face in
the sand, coat tail over the head and a
hat between the feet. The flesh had
gone from the skull and face and also
parts of the limbs. The lower jaw was
gone, and a few teeth lay upon the
ground. Two upper teeth had gold
filings. The clothes were respectable,
shoes new, and the man might have
been between thirty and forty years Of
age. There was no clue to his identity.
Two Yale keys and comb were in the
pockets, and a paper evidently deed
or mortga ge, was stuck together and
torn so as to be at present undecipher-
able. The coroner will keep it for flu
ture reference.
There are more indications of foul
play from the appearance Of the body.
1t was hardly in position to have
been cast up by the river. The cap
would hardly have been with 1t, and.
while the high water may have covered
it, it does not look like it. The skull
was broken on one side also, but was
devoid of flesh, the body having prob
ably lain there for two months.
A rumor was current on the street
yesterday that two men and two wom-
en- were fishing near the place where
the body was found, before the Fourth
of July, and others fishing in the neigh
borhood heard them quarreling, using
rough language, and one man eXclaim-
ed:
II would as soon kill you as not
Afterwards one man of the party Of
four left with the two women, but the
other man was not seen with them
again. The affair was recalled by one
Of the witnesses after the finding of
the body.
Coroner Johnson and the South st.
Paul police will make further investi-
cation of the affair.
Officer Mccormick, of South st. Paul,
visited the central station last evening
with the papers and other articles
found on the person of the dead man.
The papers were stuck together and in
bad condition, from the action of the
elements, but upon careful examina-
ton, several names were deciphered
which may assist in establishing the
identity Of the dead man.
One name found on what appeared to
be some kind of an official document
was that of w. J. Hollenbeck, Of Min
neapolis. This paper bore the date of
April 8, 1898. A letter, the contents of
which could not be discerned, was writ
ten on paper bearing the printed head
lines, E. S. Kelly, M. D.. 1920 Laurel
avenue, Minneapolis. Another paper,
which appeared to be a receipt for
s495O, bore the signature Bert L. Rob
erts. Still another piece of paper con-
tanned the name Of J. F. Thompson.
This paper is thought to have been
some kind of a contract. All of the
dates on the different papers are in
April 1898.
The local police requested the Min
neapolis authorities last evening to
communicate with DR.. E. S. Kelly, Of
1920 Laurel avenue, and received a re-
ply that Dr. Kelly knew nothing Of the
man, though it was said the physician
had said that if the dead man was a
Swede he might know who he was
From the letters and papers the local
police believe the unknown man lived
in Minneapolis. This theory is
strengthened by the fact that no one
is reported missing here.