The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-06-01
ROARING BROOK MYSTERY
Object Fastened to Dam Is Thought
to Be the Body of Man.

An object. which, according to some
who beheld it in daylight, is unques-
tionably a human body. and which,
to others who saw it under equally
favorable conditions. is wanting every
semblance of human shape, was
lodged last evening, under about a
foot of water on the top of the dam
in Roaring brook, that formerly sup
piled the race leading to the old
Lackawanna Iron and Steel CONS
panys foundry, on Mates street, be-
low the old feed mill.
No effort was made to reach 1t to
give it close scrutiny. because there
were no means at hand to do so. This
morning. however, it is proposed to
find some method of getting to it and
finding out just what 1t Is.
The dam is now in dilapidated
condition. The top of it has been
swept away, and all that is left above
the foundatio masonry are the up
right iron bars that formerly pierced
the top beams and held them in place.
IT is on one of these bars, near the
middle of the stream that the object
seems to be caught. 1t is too far out
to be reached with any poles or hook
that could be found in the neighbor-
hood and the water of the brook is
so high and at that particular point
so turbulent, no one could expect to
enter it and come out alive. The
vastly swollen stream plunses over
the dam with a roar and force that
seems great enough to furnish power
for the whole steel mill. Below the
dam is !; pool. which. at ordinary
times is fifteen feet deep. 1t is now
nearly twenty. When the brook is
low, this pool is a treacherous place,
because of it's whirls and eddies. Five
boys have been drowned there while
swimming. That more have not met
the same fate is because only the
most daring will enter it.
One plan proposed for reaching the
edge of the dam and securing the
object, is to build strcng raft. at
tach stout ropes to it, snub these
ropes on either side of the brook, and
allow the raft, with a man or two
aboard, to be gradually floated down
to the point where the object is
lodged. When the object is secured.
one of the ropes can be cut at the
edge of the raft and by force of the
current the raft will be carried to
the shore to which it is lashed by the
other rope.
The object was first sighted in the
place where it was lodged last night,
by a small party of the men who live
in that neghborhood and who We're
standing on the bank of the brook.
after supper, watching the water
plunging over the dam.
Patrick Mckee and Simon Reedy. the
latter the watchman at the Lackawan-
ma Iron and Steel company's barn, We're
two of these. 10 Tribune reporter
they would only say that they stared
t the object as long as there was light
enough left to see its outlines through
the water and that while it might be
something else. they could not con-
vince themselves but that it was the
body of IA human being.
1t appeared, Mr.. Reedy said, as If it
was mans body lying on the back,
with the head down stream, the face
upturned and the hair streaming down
ward with the water. 1t protruded
about two feet beyond the edge of the
dam, and curved with the curve of the
water. The surface of the water was
smooth where it passed over the object
and the object was seemingly about a
foot beneath the surface. If the water
was clear, there would he no difficulty
in making out with a fair degree of
certainty, If not absolute certainty, just
what the object was. ON account OF
the rains. however, the water is murlly
and not easily penetrabe by the
human sight.
Scores of persons came to the bank
10 stare at the object, and about every
other one went away believing it was
"A human body. Half the others thought
it was a dog or some ether animal, and
the remainder pooh -poOhed the idea of
ii being anything at all more than just
some black thing with some white on
it.
a deaf mute, named John Peck, liv-
ing on the corner of River and Mates
streets, came upon the scene while the
crowd WAS gathered and declared that
during the afternoon, while seated at
an upstairs window, he saw floating
down the stream an object that he
thought at the time was a mans body.
He saw the upper part of the body, he
asserted, and could make out the teeth.
moustache and buttoned-up coat.
TO SUCCEED DANIEL EDWARDS