The Saint Paul globe., 1905-03-14
WATCH RIVER FOR
HARTMAN'S BODY
Rural Mail Carrier Furnishes
CIew That May Solve
Mystery

clew based on the assumption that Jo-
seph Hartman, wanted for alleged
completely in the murder of Christian
Schindeldecker, is dead.
They are also inclined to think that
the belief of Hartman's father, who
has steadfastly declared his son was
in the river, may be true. c. E. Miller,
a rural mail carrier living at South St
Paul, and whose route covers the dis
trict between South ST Paul and the
country surrounding Inver Grove,
stated to Chief O'Connor last night
that Saturday afternoon, March 4, he
noticed the body of a man floating In
the Mississippi river about mile and
q half below Inver Grove. The body
was floating headforemost, with the
face down, and was close into the
shore when discovered by Miller.
Only a portion of the head was
above water, part of the hair and the
right ear being visible. The hair was
partially dry and was of dark brown
shade and curled away from a pro-
nounced crown on the right side of
scalp. The right ear was badly lac
Grated and swollen, as from the effects
of blow. The only part of the cloth
ing visible was the collar of the coat,
and Miller is positive the cloth was
black. Miller says that when he first
noticed the body it was floating slowly
few yards above the point where the
river crowds the river road, and that,
leaving his horse standing on the road,
he made his way to the bank. By this
time the body was almost opposite him
and floating so close to the bank that
he could almost reach it with his
hands.
Tried to Get Body
Miller says that he was about to
wade into the water and secure a hold
on the coat collar of the dead man
when his horse, frightened by the
cracking of ice in a nearby pond,
started to run. Leaving the river
bank, Miller ran to the road, and after
securing the horse tied the animal to
a tree. The time required to secure
the horse was about three minutes, but
when Miller returned to the river bank
the body had disappeared and a num-
Der of large cakes of ice were slowly
floating where the corpse had been but
few minutes before. Thinking the
body had been pushed under water by
the ice, Miller ran down the bank for
several rods until he came to a small
wing dam that projected several yards
from the shore out into the river. Max
ing his way out onto the dam he care
fully searched for some trace of the
body, but the constant arrival of fresh
cakes of ice soon hid all open water
from view. Being already behind
time, Miller abandoned the search
after spending almost half an hour on
the dam, and resumed his Journey.
Further down the road he met a
number of men employed in looking up
stray logs and mentioned the matter
TO them. On account of the large guam
tlty OF ice jammed at the wing dam
where the body is supposed to have
lodged, it has been impossible to con-
duct a thorough search, but when
Chlef OConnor was informed Of the
facts he ordered a patrol of the river
just above and below the dam, and all
last night watchmen strolled up and
down the banks, closely scanning the
water for anything afloat. 1t is possi-
Die, according to men familiar with the
river, that the body floated around the
dam, but If such was the case 1t is
now lodged in the sandbars a few
miles down. Between the dam and the
sandbars the river channel is very
deep and the current swift, and 1t
would be impossible for any object, to
lodge along the shores. At the begin
nlng OF the Sandbars the current is
very slack and the river divides into
numerous small streams that flow
slowly among number of small sandy
islands 1t is here among the sand
found during the past, and where the
pody discovered by Miller will be
found in case it floated around the
dam above.
Whether the body is that of Hart
man can not be determined, as Miller
was unable to catch glimpse of the
race but the police are determined to
locate the corpse speedily, and TODAY
an attempt Will be made to remove the
Ice that has jammed about the dam.
Joseph Hartman disappeared from
his home the Monday after the muir
der and has not been seen since, al
though Edward Gottschalk stated to
the missing boys father that he had
been with young Hartman on the
Wednesday after the murder, Twelve
days from the date of Hartman's dis
appearance the body of a dead man
was found floating in the river a dis
lance of between twelve and fifteen
miles from the dam where Hartman
was seen last. On Sunday, March 5.
the ice went out of the river from
above the dam, and the current has
Deen unusually swift. Bodies rise to
the surface of the water after differ
ent periods of immersion, but unless a
pody was pinned to the bottom of the
river by some heavy object. or the
clothes caught in a snag. it would
hardly remain below the surface more
than nine or ten days. It would. the
ponce say, be an easy matter for a
pody thrown into the river at the
upper dam, where Hartman disap-
peared, to float a distance of fifteen
miles, providing it did not catch on a
snag, as is rarely the case in rapid
running water.
Hartman Wore Black Suit
Hartman's hair is said to haye-been
OF a. medium shade of brown. but long
contact with water would, say the no.
nee, naturally give it a darker hue. IT
is known that Hartman changed his
clothes on the day of the murder. and
tnat the suit he wore at the time off
MS disappearance was black. The
confusion on the right ear noticed hv
Miller as the body fioated past him
could easily have resulted from con-
tact with the floating ice were II not
Tor the fact that the ear was badly
swollen. Had life been extinct when
the blow was received no swellinc
would have resulted, and from this
fact the police are inclined to believe
the blow was delivered while the vic
tim was alive. The fact that the
corpse was free from river slime is
conclusive that it had only been in the
water short time, not over three
weeks at the utmost, and during that
time no one has been reported missing
Inc Ice In the northern part of the
river Is still intact, and if the hodv
lioated down from Minneapolis or fur
ther up the river it would have in all
probability lodged at the dam at tho
crosby farm, where Hartman disan-
Deared, The nOIioa- ara h., - -