The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-12-29
UNRAVELLING
THE MYSTERY
Searchers For Eyre's Body
Have Found Boat and
It's Oars.

a.ah .o',d;ng The fate Of George p.
eyre. WIS rewarded to-day by the
discovery OF two mute records of
that fate! And one of these at
least is proof positive and incon-
troyertible that the river holds the
secret of Eyre's disappearance.
At Bellevue to-day was recovered
an oar marked with half decipher-
able initials and the identical pad
die with which George Eyre sculled
his boat from the club house on the
day of his disappearance. The
paddle was positively identified to-
night by John Mowry, president of
the Alpha Boat Club, as the ore
!. used by Eyre in his ducking expe-
ditlons.
This paddle was recovered by an
Inquirer staff correspondent, who,
in company with George Sheetz,
better known in Chester as 'Peter,
went again this afternoon over the
west shore of the Delaware. Owing
to the terrific east wind that for
two days piled upon the river the
highest tides that have been known
for years, and cast upon the Penn
sylvania shore great masses of
driftwood, weeds and rushes, it
has beer held that any portions of
Eyress Ssaiff afloat at that time
Mulld'have been hurled there, and
not upon the Jersey side of the
Delaware. From the absence of
driftwood on the eastern shore and
the banks of wreclage on the west
ern this theory was proven to be
correct.
To-day, by the recovery of these
two implements, it is shown with
almost absolute certainty that the
search for the body ot the missing
man or for his boat to prove fruit
full must be directed toward the
Pennsylvania side of the river.
This. of course, granting that
Eyre's body has not been buried
and his boat burned, although the
discovery of the paddle seems to
prove that the slitf itself was not
destroyed.
AS told Yesterday the search on
that day resulted only i'll the find
ing of u broken and weather-beat-
en- oar. This it was not thought
worth while, at the time, to take to
the police. To-day it was decided
to intcrrogate the dwellers in the
MANY scattered cabins and small
hamlets that dot the Delaware S
shore in tine hope that something
had been seen by them. Certain
stretches of beach were also to be
examined. Notably that there was
n decaying weather-beaten boat.
Nothing else could be seen. Be-
tween the brush and the shore are
the tangled reeds Of the marsh,
then rim of ice and beyond the
dancing whitc-capped waves of the
Delaware, that seem to laugh at
mans efforts to draw forth their Sc
crct. ,,
The party then turned its way to
the houses scattered along the
beach. Although not ten miles from
| Chester some of the residents OF
this region read a newspaper prob
ably once 4 month. TO all the gen.
erons offef Of The Inquirer was
told, But none had found a trace of
either missing man or boat. About
a mile below Holly Oak a boy as
cended the heights rising to the
railroad. To him the same ques-
ton was put. From him it was
learned that on Sunday his brother
had found an oar just below Stub $
Pier, the very spot which, for the
last two days, The Inquirer has
been rigidly inspecting. This boy
was George Dempsey. With him
to his home near Bellevue, The In
quirer's searching party went.
The Dempsey home is 4 comfort
able frame facing the river. They
are honest people, little touched by
the cares of the world outside Of
their hearthstone and know little
or nothing of the Eyre mystery; so
little in fact that to them the find
Inc of an car and paddle at such
a time seemed nothing out of the
ordinary. The oar and paddle
were produced.
Sheet. who has seen Eyre's S
paddle score of times, recognized
it at once. The paddle is white,
the paint having been worn from
parts of the blade and handle. 1t
is evidently an oar cut down and
fashioned into an allen shape. Its
blade is bound with ring of cop
per. From it projects a steel pick
six inches long, sharp as bayonet
and used in sculling through the ice
during winter shooting. At the top
Of it's blade are clippings of the
hard wood irregular and charact-
eristic. 1t is a paddle that seen
but twice would be known again.
Therefore was it that as soon as
Pete Sheetz caught sight of it he
cried:
.,''George's paddle for sure
The oar is an ordinary one, a
cheap one. once painted green. but
little OF it's original color remains.
But upon it in red are the faint
tracing of letters evidently the ini-
tials Of its owner. 1t is'not the pro-
perty of the Alpha Boat Club. 1t is
an oar such as is used by river
md &n. The question arises have the
oars of victim and slayer been cast
up together out of the depths of tn e
river?
Both were found on Sunday morn
ing; the paddle by Tom Dempsey,
10 years old, and the oar by John,
his 12-year old brother. The pad
die was found not three hundred
yards below Stubs pier. Cast
high upon a bed of reeds the oar
was discovered.
The oar was discovered about fine
same distance above the pier.
Stubs pier is about eight miles be-
low Chester and almost opposite
Dalbrow's Point, where on Thurs
day night the fire was seen burn
ing and not so far away from Rae
coon Creek, where Eyre was sup.
posed to have gunncd on the same
day.
Both the oar and the paddle we're
turned over to Chief Of Police Berry
U>i,;, l., c,. tln ,,n.t :,