The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1904-03-24
LifeIess Body Of Andrew Swanson
Found Buried III a SnoWdritt
on the French Farm.
CHOKED BY WEB OF suSPENDER.
Strange Conditions OF Disappearance of the
Man Lead to the Belief That He
Met With Foul Play.

corner of a piece Of woodland on the
French farm west of the city, two
hunters on Sunday afternoon found
the 1ife1ess body Of Andrew Swanson,
former resident of the village of
Twin Lakes. About his neck was
wound piece of webbing taken from
pair of suspenders, while another
piece of similar stuff wrapped about a
fallen tree seemed to tell the story of
suicide by hanging. The man had
evidently fallen to the ground, and
had been covered under the deep fall
Of snow on Monday or Wednesday.
The warm rays of the sun had melted
the snow on Sunday and had brought
the tragedy to light.
The boys who made the CHASTITY dis
covery hurried to the city and report
ed the find to the Sheriff and Justice
Sturges, and a jury went out to view
the remains. Later they were re-
moved to the Krichbaum morgue,
where they are now being held pend
ing the arrival of some of the friends
of Swanson The Justice and his
jury are holding an inquest over the
remains this afternoon.
While It is generally accepted that
Swanson committed suicide, the cir
cumstances about the last days of his
life have raised doubt in the minds
of the officials, and some of them
seem to think it possible that he met
with foul play. Swanson has figured
quite little in Kenosha events dur
ing the past few months. He was
formerly a prosperous farmer resid-
ing near Twin Lakes, but his wife
and daughter went to E1gin, ILL.,, to
live and Swanson remained behind to
negotiate the sale of a piece of prop
erty owned by the family. The prop
erty was sold to Charles Swanson, of
Twin Lakes, and at the time the deed
was to have been given, Swanson
came up from Chicago accompanied
by a woman whom he stated was his
wife, and who signed the deed for the
property. The man was paid two
hundred dollars in cash, and the re-
mainder of the purchase price was to
be in the way of a mortgage. A few
days later it was learned that the wo-
man who signed the deed was not
Mrs. Swanson, but a Chicago woman
who had apparently infatuated Swan
son. He was later found at E1gin,
and with his real wife came to Keno
sha and managed to fix mp the deal.
Mortgages were filed in the local Reg
lister Of Deeds office, one to Mr.. Swan
son and another to his wife.
Since that time little had been
known of the life of Swanson. Eff
forts have been made to locate the
fictitious wife but they have been
without effect. A week ago Swanson
was seen in Kenosha, and at that
time he was alleged to have quite a
sum of money.
When his frozen corpse was found
on Sunday, search of his pockets re-
vea1ed the fact that he had absolutely
nothing Of value on his person. Ad-
ded to this there was great wound
on the right side of his face which
SCCIlCu 10 1Ilu1CdLS llldl 1lC ldO DCSu
struck with some blunt instrument.
| Another bruise was found on the top
OF his head.
There is no doubt but that the man
had been dead for many days, and the
members of the jury seem to think
| that he killed himself on last Sunday
or early Monday morning.
It is also possible that the man was
robbed and murdered, and that an eff
fort was made to cover the crime by
taking the body to this lonely place
and giving it the semb1ance of the
body of a suicide.
Swanson was sixty years of age and
had resided in this county for mum
Der of years. He had wife and
daughter residing at E1gin, Ill.
! It was reported that the man had
attempted to commit suicide at the
Anderson hotel short time ago, but
this is denied by the boarders at the
hotel.
/