The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-10-23
HIDDEN TRAGEDY
Is UNEARTHED
Body of a Man Discovered by Boys
Northeast Of City.
MAY BE MURDER OR SUICIDE
UNUSUAL CIRCUMSTANCES OF
CASE PUZZLE POLICE.
NTRANGE circumstances surround

nTRANGE circumstances surround
the discovery Of an unknown
corpse. the resG. CT murder or sui
eide. northeast of the c.ty. 80 con-
ficting are the circumsN lnces that
members of the police department.
working on the case are completely -
sea.
The body. that of a man proba bly,
More than 30 years OF aEe, UNUSUALLY
dressed. law at the head OF q jittt-
draw on the main ridge north Of me
city. about One-han mile north aliu
three-fourths Of a mile east from FL
sign peak. \ .3S-calibre Colt fdoLoie
action revolver, nickel plated lay
across the lower part Of the trunk.
The skull, smashed in three places,
u. esumably at the time Of death lay
niEety feet away. Wild animals had
EeIped to dismember the TemaiIs. But
in spite of their work, evidence re
scained sufficient to make the case re-
markable in its line.
The body had. i'm the opinion 90 Jo-
seph William Taylor, the undeTtake''
who handled IT, and of the officers,
been there for several months, perhaps
for a year. That the man hld gone
out into the hills during cold and rainy
weather was indicated by the tact that
a heavy overcoat and q pair OF nI2n
heavy rubbers were part of his cl'tE-
ing.
The man must have been past mid
die age The fringe of hair left al
the back of the skull was dark au-
burn, thickly sprinkled with gray. This
hair was coarse and thick. Possibly
the top of the head was bald. He was
DrohahIv : feet II inches or 8 feet tall,
and we'll built.
The clothing was @ood-and difio.eHt
from that which most men wear.
black OvercOat with a velvet collar; a
soft. round brimmed felt hat turned up
in front: Il black Prince Albert coat,
and a black vest. both with cloth-coV-
cred buttons; a pair of gray and black
striped trousers; SHOES, size Il2; heavy
undertaking; yellow WOODEN shirt
With black vertical stripes. and heavy
knit WOODEN socks, constituted the
clothing. The hat was we'll worn, and
| creased at the top. Overcoat and
! Prince Albert were OF comparatively
/ expensive cloth.
The nature Of the articles found on
The body indicated that the man had
been prospecting and that he had car
ried his revolver right along on at least
this trip
Three Cartridges Discharged.
! Three shots had been fired from the
weapon. Either of two things is, III
( the belief of the police. possible.
The man may have stuck the revolver
muzzle into his mouth and blown out
his brains. If he did so, the concus-
sion splintered his skull on the left
side, tore away a large section on the
: gsirr -fI ba IafslI q
triangular piece of the skull on the
right side of the top, just in front OF
the crown. The presence of the le-
vOlver on the corpse and the absence
of letters or other papers help the sui
eide idea.
On the other hand three empty shells
IN successive order in the revolver cylin
der. the last under the hammer of toe
gun, make murder look possible. The
presence of three straps found two OF
them beside the body and the third across
the legs is not accounted for. One al
these straps is looped at the end by being
drawn through the buckle. The other two
are unbuckled. The last two have beer
cheWed. presumably by coyotes. All three
are small straps. such as are used or
A cIean-edged slash extended from elbow
10 wrist on the right sleeve o. the over.
coat In the hat, just at the point which
III ii were ordinarily worn. would be right
over the triangular hole in the top of the
skull, are two cuts When first examined
both these were closed. Each was about
three-siXteenths of an inch long. They
We're nearly one-fOurth Of an inch apart
Neither bore the appearance OF having
beer made by q bullet. nor were they
large enough TO admit the passage of
.39-calibre ball In the OOiniOn OF those
Who examined the corpse these might
possibly have been caused by a heavy
blow from a blunt Instrument The hat
had been worn after death, for mass
Of hair stuck TO the inside Of the crown.
Skull Badly Shattered.
A rouIlL rectangular piece OF bore. the
thickness of which showed il came from
the top of the skull arch. lay inside the
skull
The skull was badly shattered The
right side had been torn away from the
eye socket back 10 the ear hole and dowr
10 the base. Opposite this on the left
side was a long, clean fracture. extend
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