The Savannah morning news., 1900-09-03
MAY BE BoWDEN'S BODY.
ENGINEERS AT PORT scREyES saw
BODY OF A MAN N THE RIVER.

The body Was in Underelothes and
In other Matters az Description
Corresponded with That of the CO.
iambus Man who Disappeared
From the Beech at Tybee On sun
DAP siEht "a Week AEs-issk Ss a
Boat Prevented Immediate Rccov-
ery-searchinR Parties Were mt
work During Afternoon and Even
InE-ProbabiIIhes as 90 Identity
Point in Two ways.
After weeks Intellectual searching,
what Is thoughs TO be the body OF W. o.
Bowden. the Columbus man. who disap-
peared from the beach at Tybee sunday
night a week ago. was discovered yes
terday morning floating up the river with
the flood tide.
The discovery OF the body was made by
two government engineers. who were
standing on the wharf of the government
reservation. at Fort screven. This was
at II o'clock in the morning. They
watched the body as II drifted up the
river with the tide. but they had no
boat In which they could follow IT, and.
IN consequence. were helpless and una
bic 20 rescue Il from the waters. The
eide carried II rapidly up stream and IN
ally a. disappeared from their view be-
yond a bend in the river.
The body that was seen was In under
clothes. a fact that corresponds with the
details Of the story OF Bowdens dlsap-
pearance He took of his outer garments
and started out into the surf only few
minutes elapsed from the time OF hIs en-
trance into the surf before his final dis
appearance.
In other matters Of description the body
seen by the engineers az Fort screven
corresponds with Bowden, though. OF
course. Il Is impossible to be certain that
the man has really been found or seen.
The engineers had but poor opportunity
Tor comparing the floating body with the
description that has been given Of the
mon supposed TO have been drowned at
fyDee. and they cannot. therefore. be
sure
The probabilities ne about evenly divided
Tor ana against the theory that the body
la the river was that OF Bowden. In the
first place. no other drowning has recent
" taken place, which has been reported
20 the authorities. and. 80 far as Is known,
no body is even supposed to be drifting
IN the waters of Chatham county other
than that OF the man from Columbus.
Then, too, the underciothes that were seen
on the body on the river are evidence
hat Il is that of Bowden. on the other
hand, Il seems scarcely probable that
body could have foated IN the water Tor
week without losing resemblance. not
only TO the man himself, but also TO any
human shape.
The discovery OF the body floating ~
the river was reported TO Coroner Goette.
and az his instigation a small tug boat
aud a number OF men were kept busy
during the afternoon in an effort to recov-
er the body from the waters and bring 4
20 the city for purposes OF identification.
So far as known these efforts have not
been attended with any success. Al least
no report OF a find has been made to the
coroner
The relatives OF Bowden have offered a
reward OF 500. the payment OF which is
guaranteed by a Columbus bank. for the
recovery OF his body The possibility OF
earning this reward Will doubsless be SUI
hcient incentive to keep searching parties
at work for several days 10 come Even
II the body IN the river is recovered
identification will probably prove to be
difhcult matter, for reasons that have
been suggested above.