The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1900-01-04
EYRE'S SKIFF
BEEN FOUND.
The One Found By VIM.
E. Spicer Recognized
By Its Builder.

Chester, Pa, JAM. .a.-Once moro the Del
| aware River, or rather a tributary, ha
| given up portion Of missing George u
Eyre's cunning skiff in which he left til,
| Alpha Boat Club house at the foot o
| Welsh street on that eyentful Thursday
morning December II. 1t was the bottom
| Of the voung spnrtman's boat which wa.
| picked up by William f. Spicer, keeper
| of the Lighthouse at tho mouth of lht
Christiana River.
William MaCully one Of the best. known
river men about Chester. read II descrip.
tion of the boat bottom which Lighthouse
Keeper Spicer guarded with jaa!op, care
believing that it belonged to Eyres gun
ming skili.
''Ill bet all can mako cut OF next
spring run OF shad that belongs to Geo.
B. Eyre's skitf," he said, "and I'm going
down to Wilmington 10 look at it L."
And so he did and identified the pieces
of board as those he had seen many times
In the missing mans cunning skiff, of
which by the way, MaCully himself was
one time the owner.
Spiosr showed tho false bottom''of a
cunning skitf. lis In excellent con d.
tion and does not have the appearance of
floating about the river very long. 1t has
been painted drab, as near as could be
told at night and then varnished 1t now
has the appearance of having been finish
ed in natural wood. Across the middle
of the bottom Is u foot cleat. L. was made
OF II wagon rim and was once painted yell
low This portion is older than the other
wood In the bottom. On ono corner tho
paint was worn from the bottom.
MaCulIy looked at the bottom for q
moment and said:
"Yes, sir;that belonged to George Eyrea
hDat which | ana TINA n.pnah Invsalf,
that foot ceat across there put on my
self; so you SEQ know what am talk.
Ing about I'm sure that was Georges
cunning skiff."
Lighthouse keeper Spicer, as told. recov-
cred the bottom on tho ripraps of the jetty
at the mouth of The Christiana on Tues
day llu had seen it several times before
but paid little attention to it until u
few days ago when he became interested
in tho Eyre mystery and made up his
mind it was portion Of the missing mans
boat. Ho then went out after it and
brought it to the light house.
Mr.. SpicAr SAYS he first thought that
young Eyre had been run down by pass
ing steamship but he has changed his
mind now. II he had been run down bv
II steamer he thinks the boat wculd hsve
been found by this time. He does not
thnk tho boat bottom had been afioat for
any great perlOu, hS lD Qlu no nave nO np-
pcarance Of floating about the river for
any lcngth Of time Spcer now thinks
Eyre may have met with foul play and
tho boat sent adrift apiece alta time. Tho
bottom found gives indication of having
belonged to good boat such as Eyre
owned.
Chester Pa, Jan. 3.-Notwithstanlng
the fact that ".Iim Pierce has admitted To
Chief of Police Berry that he had In his
possession tho cunning skiff Of B o, Lad.
omus, much interest Ger tered In the re-
hearing OF Pierce who will again be ar
raigned before Mayor Jetferis NJ ho City
Hall to morrow afternoon. Chief Berry
aud Police Officer O'1oole who made the
charge again Pierce arc now prepared to
go on with tho case. Thoy have gathered
sufficient evidence against the accused,
they say, TO hold him for trial.
Pierce will be represented by Lawyer
Joseph II. lIinkson. who proposes to
make vigorous fight in behalf OF his
client. There is reason to believe that
enough evidence will be offered to war
rant tho holding of Pierce for trial, in
which event the case will come up at the
March term OF court.