Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1901-01-22
DEAD IN TENNESSEE
Mans Body in jackson Morgue
Held for Identification.
AN OT1UMWA POSTnARKED LETTER
Stranger, Thought to Be Charles
Meus or Possibly Cook, Died in
jackson Lodging House Where He
Had Gone for the Night.

In the morgue, in Jackson, Tenn,
there lies the unidentified body of a
man. On January 2, the man, sick
unto death, wandered into lodging
house in Jackson and asker for bed.
Forty-eight hours afterward, without
having spoken a word to anyone he
passed away, and the doctors pro-
nounced the ailment which resulted
in death. pneumonia.
The authorities on examining the
remains found only an envelope and
Is cents in money The envelope
bore the business card of an Ottumwa
firm-Messrs. Silberman Bros. The
Ottumwa postmark was that of Janu-
airy s, 1900.
ottumwa Firm Notified.
The lodging house keeper, R. E..
Hopper, under date of January 16,
1901, wrote postal card to SHERMAN
Bros, in which he said the following:
"a stranger here dead and embalm-
ed; supposed to be named Cook. A
low, heavy set man; left eye seemed
to be out or blind; heavy dark mus
tache, thick, dark hair. Any instruc-
tions as to what to do? Will wait to
hear"
The Courier Wires.
The Courier upon hearing of the re-
ceipt of the postal and the strange in,
formation, Immediately wired Mr..
Hopper for further particulars, and to-
day received the following letter,
written January IS:
.s'The stranger l wrote about came
to my lodging house on the night Of
January 2, 1891, and on asking for
lodging I gave him a room, and the
next morning, about IL o'clock, he
was found in his room by heavy snor-
ing, and l went UP and found him I'M
conscious. l had three doctors with
him and they pronounced his ailment
pneumonia. He never regained con-
seriousness and he died at 11:45
o'clock on the night of January 4. His
body is now in the morgue in good
condition. He had no papers that
could get any information from, ex-
cept this envelope which l send you.
He is heavy set man with a very
heavy, dark mustache thick dark hair,
blemish in left eye-don't think he
could see out of that eye. Had on
heavy undershirt and dress shirt,
heavy sweater, coat and vest; soft,
black hat, heavy feece-lined shoes.
He had Is cents in one of his pockets.
He had inquired at nearby livery
stable for work and he was to go back
the next morning to see about it;
there he gave his name as Cook"
Address on Envelope.
The envelope found in the pocket OF
the deceased bore the following ad-
dress:
Mr.. Chas. Meus,
TeXarkana, Ark
1t also bore the business card of
Silberman Bros, of this city. and the
postmark showed that it had been
sent from Ottumwa, January s, 1900.
Clint Adler, who is in charge of the
Silberman Bros business, looked over
his letter files and found that the en-
closure in the envelope sent to Chas.
Meus on the date named, was draft
for $3.50, in payment for a consign-
ment of furs sent to the firm. This
is as far as the identification can be
completed in Ottumwa, as this is the
only correspondence the firm has ever
had with any person of that name.
1t is believed here that the dead
man was trapper and that wishing
to leave his traps for time he went
to Jacksonville and applied for work.
The difference in names cannot be ac-
counted for.
Looking for Man.
The defect in the dead mans eye is
the feature of the letter which inter-
ested Silberman Bros. more than any
other, as the firm has been looking for
the past two years for some person,
who has defective eye, and who is
said to have taken sum of money be-
longing to the firm, and to have dis
appeared. 1t was thought that the
Jackson corpse might prove to be that
of the person sought for, but Mr.. Adj
Ter is of the opinion that the mystery
surrounding the disappearance has
not yet been solved.
Nothing further will be done re-
garding the matter in this city, unless
there is someone here who will recog-
nlze in the above description a rela-
tive or acquaintance, in which event
directions for disposing of the body
might be forwarded.
critrrN,rc rNNrEco