Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-04-08
A MYSTERY DEEPENS.
Bones of Former ottumwa Man Dis
covered in Wyoming.


The wild sweeps of western country
have furnished the scene for many a
tragedy, but none is more mysterious,
none more barren of means of solu-
ton than the one which has been COM
pleted during the present week by the
discovery of the bones of Benjamin
Harkins, former resident of Ottum-
wa, in wild and unfrequented place
thirty-three miles from Gillette, Wy
oming, at which place Mr.. Harkins
was last seen alive three years ago.
The dead man was citizen of Ottum-
wa about twenty years ago and re-
moved from here to Kansas, where he
resided until his death. His brother,
J.. H. Harkins, of Fremont, is we'll
known in Ottumwa. as is also his I'M
Gle, George Harkins, of Hedrick.
Sounds Like Fiction.
The story of the disappearance of
Mr.. Harkins sounds like fairy tale,
but it's truth is vouched for by reliable
persons. He left his home in Kansas
for a trip to the state of Washington!
on business, and travelled as far as
Gillette, the train on which he was a
passenger stopped twenty minutes for
supper, but Mr.. Harkins, not hearing
the summons to continue his journey
found, on finishing his meal, that his
train had left the station.
engaged a room for the night. After
few minutes ne told the clerk, who
remembers the occurrence, that he
would take walk around the city be-
fore retiring, and left the hotel. This
was the last time anyone who has
been found ever saw him alive. He
seemed to drop completely out of eX-
istence.
Search Unsuccessful.
The next day, when the man failed
to put in an appearance in time to
catch his train the people at the no
tel became alarmed for his safety and
instituted inquiries regarding his
whereabouts. No one could be found
who could tell anything about the
stranger. Relatives from distance
journeyed to Gillette in the hope OF
securing information regarding the
missing man but their efforts were tt
! no avail. Finally, in despair, they
e dropped the matter and all save those
: who were directly interested had al
v most forgotten all about the occur
l renee when the sequel was brought tt
d light few days ago.
Discovery of Remains.
Il J. H. Harkins Of Fremont, brothel
: of the dead man, received a letter /;
. few days ago from the authorities a
> Gillette, notifying him that the bone
u of his brother had been found in al
!. uninhabitated part of the country THU
ty-three miles from Gillette. The re
hoI DC n
the former Ottumwan by letters an,
papers which had been in his posses
sion. What added mystery to the cas-
was the fact that the money which tn
man had been carrying and which az
/ gregated a considerable amount, wa
/ intact at the time the skeleton was dis
generally accepted, to the effect thu
the man had been robbed and murder
ed, was thus overthrown, and the mys
terry has been deepened instead of d.
creased by the finding of the remain!
No Solution.
Mr.. Harkins was Christian and
consistent member of church. H
was strictly temperate, as the theor
that might be advanced on that scor
is done away with. He had no reason
apparently, for committing suicide, a
he was well supplied with the con
forts of life He was forty-seve
years of age at the time he disappear
ed, and in his Kansas home were
wife and four children. His exper
ences had always beer pleasant ones
so there could have been no founda
ton for theory of suicide. The on
ly solution that can be arrived a
which has any semblance of likelihood
is that he may have become tempo
rarily deranged and wandered ava
from Gillette into the wild countl
nearby, and that he had there starve
to death in the unfrequented locatio
where his remains were found.