The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-07-09
WATERS OF JORDAN
GIVE UP THEIR DEAD
James Bullock Mystery Solved
at the Old Petit
Dam.
HISTORY OF CASE THAT
HAS BAFFlED THE POLICE
Body Taken From Pool Which
Had Often Been Dragged
in Vain.

j. NJ. Bullock the man of mystery
whose strange disappearance on April
II set at naught all efforts OF his
friends and relatives, as well as those
OF the detective department to locate
him. has at last timed up to tell the
tale OF his own tragic taking off.
Though the story comes from the lips
OF the dead, 1t Is eloquent OF human
suffering, OF disappointed love, OF pain
racking disease and of the desperation
which came as a climax TO cap the
towering sheaf Of Jim Bullock's woes.
From the dark depths of the treacher-
GUS Jordan river, just above the old
Petit dam, that death hole which has
claimed many victim, the badly de-
composed body OF Bullock was found
Sunday afternoon.
w. j. Murphy, with some boy COM
panions. had been casting his fishing line
here In the cross-rps and eddies OF the
swrling pool when he suddenly no.
ticed. about mid-stream and close up
against the dam, human hand shoot
up out of the Water-a hand that quiv-
cred and seemed 10 beckon. as though
in mute appeal for succor.
The alarm was quickly spread that
there was dead man In the river and
within an hour the banks of the stream.
and the dam which crosses 1t, were
crowded with officials from the city and
residents of the neighborhood. The
hand continued at intervals 10 dart
forth from the murky whirlpool az
though its owner. weary OF his self
chosen bed In the dark down there,
strovc with might and main to gain q
grasp on some substantial thing that
belonged to the warmth and life OF the
sun-lit world.
The work of recovery was brief,
though. owing to the condition OF the
body, beSet with much difficulty. What
remained OF the droaned man was soon
on It's way in the dead wagon to the
Evans morsue on State street, and
the Coroner and police officials were
hurrylng back to the city In the pa
troll wagon to furnish the facts for
the final chapter in the Bullock mys-
terry.
History of the Case.
Most readers of The Tribune must
be more or less familiar with this
strange case, for the details OF II were
published from time TO time as It de-
veloped from the day Of the man 9
disappearance up to the time that the
relatives and professional man-hunt-
ers. having exhausted every resource
known TO them, confessed themselves
absolutely baffled In all their attempts
to discover a substantial trace Of him,
and abandoned the search,
Briefly the story is this: On April
II, James n. Bullock, q quarryman, dis
appeared from his home at 1870
Eleventh East street On the 18th the
police found him supposedly In the act
of preparing to jump Into the river
from the Jordan river railroad bridge.
They arrested him and took him to the
city prison, where Police Surgeon Paul
found him suffering from nervous eN-
haustion, administered a restorativ Q
and advised him to remain in the prison
hospital until he had regained his nor
NAL strength The case amounted to
nothing, either from a police or medi-
cal point Of view. and little attention
was paid to 1t.
Bullock remained at the hospital but
few hours, and, as there had been
no charge placed against him, he was
allowed to go. He had arrived at the
prison without q hat. This fact Is
noted. as the hat which he immedi-
ately procured played most import
ant part In the later developments Of
the case.
On April 20 a ranchcr named Mike
Garvin, living near the Petit dam,
which Is but O short distance above
the mouth Of the Jordan river. picked
UP on the river bank within fifty yards
of the dam a gray felt hat which bore
upon Its brim the indelible inscription:
II am Bullock. / am dead"
Immediately upon the publication Of
the fact OF this discovery the detec-
tive department and the relatives of
the missing man began the long search.
The river was dragged above and be-
low the point where the hat was found.
Large quantities Of giant powder were
exploded in the hope of raising tho
| body of Bullock, IT, as most Of the
theorists held he had sought death IN
the waters of the Jordan at the old
Petit dam. All these efforts were fu-
| tile and the belief became current that
some mischiefmaker, or, perhaps, Bull
lock himself, had placed the hat on the
river bank to throw the searchers of
| the trail.
Bloodhound on Trail.
The question then came up: Where
! was Jim Bullock from the time he left
| tho city prison, on the 18th, to the
afternoon of the Goth. when Gavin
picked up the mysterious hat2 This
problem James Brown. the most inti-
mate friend OF the missing man, at
| tempted to solve. He discovered that
Bullock had slept in a deserted cabin
in a canyon TO the southwest of the
city on the night Of April IS and had
probably left there before daybreak
| the following morning. Brown put a
bloodhound on his friends track and
followed him over the hills and across
| the rocky canyons of the foothills for
| whole day and night
AT times Brown was certain he was
| close upon his fugitive friend and
| there was every indication that the
latter was making every effort to elude
capture. At places, as pursued and
pursuers made the wide circuit around
| the southern end of the city. Brown
noted that tho fleeing man had waded
for long distances In the shallow
streams. doubtless for the purpose of
| throwing the bloodhound off the scent
At last the dog was called in and
other parties were organized to search
the river at the Petit dam.
| All efforts proved fruitless and the
| Bullock case was reluctantly yielded a
| place In the long list Of mysteries TINT
have defied the authorities and baffied
| solution.
| 1t has remained for nature herself
| to draw aside the curtain of conceal
ment and show to the world how
| James Bullock. half craZed by his
unrequited love for girl, dlsappoint-
| ed and humiliated by repeated busi-
| a ai1urps and tortured bv rp1enf1c