Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1899-10-26
IS Still A MYSTERY
No Light Shed on the Strange Death
Of Mabel schotield at Des
MoiEes.
Officers Find None to Account For
Her Whereabouts Saturday
and Sunday.
DR.. Clarity Thinks He Saw the Girl
saturday-The Suicide
Theory.

came into the river has been Knocked
ties are back where they started from,
with no other clue to work from than
that she was last seen with her mother
at the Great Western, while alive. and
that her body was found floating in the
river Sunday afternoon. The latest
theory to be exploded is the one that 1
caused so much excitement Tuesday af-
| ternoon and yesterday morning, and
| that was to the effect that her body had
been dumped into the river by two men
| who We're seen coming down the river
| in a canoe, with woman lying in the
| boat between them.
| The men in this boat We're George
Parker, deputy county treasurer, and
| his brotherin Jesse Riddle. The
woman was Mrs. Parker, who is at
home, hale and hearty and rather en-
/ joying the CONSERVATION caused by her
presuming to rest herself in the bottom
of the boat during its progress toward
town Sunday morning. Mr. Parker and
1 his brother-in-laW, not at all fearful of
dire results, admit they We're the tough
looking men persons testify to having
| seen in the boat, though they We're dis
| posed to argue yesterday that the tough
| features attributed 10 them Were crea-
lures of the imagination OF the witness
es and that they are just as good look
| ing as any one.
Messrs. Parker and Riddle told their
story to reporter, coming down on
/ street car yesterday morning Mn Par
ker acting as spokesman, and Mr.. Rid
die acquiescing in all he said Mr.
i Parker said: MY wife. lnyssN ana
/ my brother-in-law went up the river 10
camp, Saturday, and pitched our tent
above McClellan's run Sunday mora
ing we pulled up stakes and started
for the city. We put our canvas In the
middle of the boat, and Mrs. Parker
4 reclined on it while Jesse and padded
the boat down town, one of us taking
up our position in each end Of it and
| engaging, almost the entire distance, in
a conversation with Mrs. Parker. We
saw great many people along the
4 river as we came down. but only two
n whom | recognized One was Harry.
Gross, the city license collector. and the
other a barber who works in the Mar
q quardt block shop
II am certain that all three of our
party answer the descriptions given of
us, but some of the witnesses. and es-
! pecialiy Marks, are little mixed as to
the time they saw US. / do not know.
Marks, but / recoiect very distinctly
seeing fishermen where he said he was.
3 and of seeing some one eating lunch
near McClellanis run, but il WAS an
hour earlier than the time given BY Mr.
u Chi,
at the time; I had my sleeves rolled up.
and We in every way answer the de-
scriptions given. Even the description
given of our boat is accurate. / think,
too, that my wife adjusted her dress
or shook it out, about where Royce
testified he saw u.s.
DR. SCHOOEER' s STATEMENT
DIR. Schooer who led in the post
: tmortem is disposed to think that Miss
Schofield either took chloroform while
:. sitting near the river. and dropped in.
or that she died of fright, and was dead
before her body struck the river.
Ii DR.. Schooler said: The theory adj
: vanced by the young ady's friends
that she Started To walk out to High
: land Park ana fell off the bridge into
I the water is very plausible. The fact
that her skirt was filled with burrs and
J Spanish needles does not detract from
the reliability of the theory, because
they could be gathered in walking
along the walks on the river bottoms
: traversed by the car line.
1T is natural that Miss Schofeld
$ should have taken that route because
! she had never been to the school ex-
cept by the cars and was not acquaint
ed with the location of Sixth avenue
bridge and the other routes of travel
to the school. She was not drowned
q there was no water in the body; nc
y mud under the finger nails, and nothing
/ to indicate that she had gone to the
. bottom as persons who drown must do
! The natural conclusion, then, is that
6 she was dead when her body struck this
river. Now she could have been fright
I ened to death and there would be no
way of ascertaining that beyond theor-
t izing, but such things occur and occur
\ frequently and oftentimes under cir
i cumstances similar to those surround
. ing this case. Suppose the young woln-
Il an started to walk across the belt line
K bridge and heard a car approaching
That could frlghten and excite her anc
she would naturally seek a place OF
safety at one side of the bridge. In do
' ing TINS my lutst 10 lIidl sic ipsl ilt
: balance and was precipitated into the
q water and that she was so thoroughly
$ frightened that she was dead before
n she struck 1t. or so nearly so that SHIT
: made no resistance. The distance from
n the bridge 10 The water is sufficient II
d permit of this. Certainly she did no
n sink, but this could be explained by
e the fall. 1t is possible that in falling
!, her clothing became inflated and tina
g she struck the water in such way tina
II the air retained caused the body
/ to float If she had been drowned
n she would have been in the water man,
d hours longer than all the circumstance
show was possible in this case befor,
gases would have formed to float TIL,
body. Then there We're no red or in
- famed spots on the mucous mem
n branes, no goose pimples on the flesh
- no water in the organs and certainl,
= nothing to Indicate that she was ever
!, under the water. / am disposed t
think she fell from the bridge and tina
. the fall and circumstances ATTENDING
- lit frightened her to death.
= but the suicide theory is plausibl
- and it is barely possible she sat dow
:, close to the water somewhere, too
- ohlorofnrn, and fell into the water