The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1899-05-19
A VANDERER DEAD.
An Unknown Man, Tramp Umbrella
Repairer, Asphyxiated While
Asleep at the Shelter.

scalding, at the hands of unknown
parties" was the verdict brought in
10y the coroner's jury Sunday noon.
The jury was made up of Frank
Travis, Glenn kre Robert White,
james ;. Walker, j. b. Atcbison and
Frank Robinson and was presided
over by Coroner Jewell OF Moran.
Little Is known about the stranger.
He was n tramp and made living by
repairing umbrellas. About O'Clock
Saturday evening he appeared at the
furnace room of The w d J LanyOn
smelter and asked Peter schonaerts,
the foreman, il he could sleep there
saying he had chill and did not
want to stay out doors as the night !
was pretty cold. Schonaerts gave
permission and sent the man to fur
mace number rs and g. and nothing |
more was thought of the man as
tramps have slept at the works
nearly every night all winter.
Sunday morning Chas. Cummings
aud Jim Darnell, the two men who
wheel aches from the furnace went TO |
WORK and in their fret trip discovered |
the body of man, and in trying to
get him to get out of the way found |
that he was dead. They immediate
" sent word TO town and Marshal F,
Brewer and sheriff Hobart went out. !
The man was lying in the north end
of the subway into which the ashes
from the retorts fall when the retorts
are cleaned. He had evidently lain
down on his side and rolled over on
his face. The men carried him out
and he was taken to Culbertson's
undertaking rooms and examined by
Drs. Teas and Hirscb. There were no
signs of violence, the only wounds
being slight scratches where his face
had struck the cinders. He was
feartully scalded, the skin on the
back OF his legs, on his shoulders and
on his chest coming off with his
clothes. The doctors made an ex-
animation of his vital organs, for he
had on his person when found three
bottles, one of which contained murl-
ATTIC acid and the others varnish and
turpentine, and it was thought he
might have committed suicide. There
was no evidence of this. The lungs
showed that the Immediate cause of
death was asphyxiatioD, doubtless
from breathing the sulphur fumes
which were drawn through the place
where he lay by the wind which
came directly from the calcining
kilns. The fumes from the hot ashes
probably helped to poison the air.
The smelter men who work in these
fumes every day say they cannot UNI
derstand INV he should have been
killed by them. The doctors say that
aman, burned as he was before he
died could not endure as much as a
well man and that the two injuries.
the scalds and the poisonous fumes,
while neither suflicientto cause death
were amply sufficient together.
The scaldibg is the unknown
feature of the case. The burns were
made by steam. There was no steam
or water in the subway. Cold water Is
used for cleaning out the retorts at
this works, while all the other works
use steam. the scsldirg was done
before death came. The mans cloth
ing was nos -clIched and the scald-
ing could NOT nave been done by the
heat from the furnace AS IL is not UNI
beara ole. All the evidence points TO
his having been scalded before he APP
piled for permission 10 sleep at the
works. He applied about s o'clock
and died a bout o'clock q. m. One Ct
the Jury held to the theory that some
woman at a house where he had ap-
piled for food had thrown water on
him, but the others suggested that he
would scarcely have turned around so
she could get him on all sides. The
matter remains IA mystery.
The unfortunate man is remem-
bered by several people who have fed
him. He was a well built man of
medium heighth and wore black
SLOUGH hat, gray checked coat, black
trousers aud n pair of boots, all in a
dilapidated condition. On his person
were found the three bottles be-
fore mentioned, which contained the
materials fnr cleaning umbrellas. lie
also had small book which gave no
cine 10 his identity merely contain.
ing the names aud addresses of peo
pie from whom he had taken work
The remains were buried by the
county Sunday evening.
Mrs. VIM. Knapp remembers hav-
ing had some repairing done by a
man about a week ago and describes
the man as tallying with the dead
man A well built man, medium
hafnhth nrau- hIank n,natanha do ri