The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1907-05-10
THINKS BOY MET
ACCIDENTAL DEATH


Power ael. MAY Ia ii.tstr Mar
Nla is noW so fan te-oftciicd ~ tae the
!orS of accidental drAla chat -: @Al ae
cept without further Investigation IL
the coroner Jaty shaA reirlet snNh u
verdict.
Since the discovery or the body he
has stoutly maintained the belief that
1t wus placed ou t.r marsh oniS day
or Two before II MAS found By y kid
nQper, who soasht Ia This way IL divert
suspicion from the read cause or mo
child disappearance.
Statement by Or. Marvin.
Il am forced ia spite OF nay former
conviction To the belief IN the possibll-
ity that my boy aid wander IA there
and die aid Or Marvin. .Cnttl the
doctors examined ~liorace's body l did
NOT think II ooked AS though life had
been extinct more than II few days
But Or. Wilson'S statement that death
must have occurred ut least four or tiva
weeks ago, puts a different aspect upon
1t. His discovery also that there was
nc food in the poor little fellow stoln-
ach, showing that he died more than u
day after he had last eaten. end TIC
show that he may have lain out there,
benumbed by the cold. while We were
hunting all around him.
Il Stiil cannot see how he walked
all that distance in the short tim,
before we began to search Tor hin,
and how his body escaped VI obser-
walton in the nan times we searched
the marsh. but such things they say
have happened before. remember
distinctly, that Mr.. Pearce, of tho
lPinkerton detective force and l werd
ut the very spot where the body was
found several weeks ago. There was
only a little water there then, and
while l sat on q log nearby Mr.,
Pearce walked through it in his rub
Der boots. We thought we searched
it thoroughly. but we may have been
mistaken.
My interest in the case is ended
1 KNOW where my boy is now and ]
care not what the authorities may
do. If in the future they find evidence
that Horace was murdered | shall dc
what l can to help them punish the
jury finds that the boys death was
an accident l shall accept the ver-
Dict
Accident Fairly Certain.
While formal inquiry a been
temporarily halted, enough has been
learned within the past twenty-four
hours to establish with a fair degree
to his death by exposure and starva-
ton after straying from the haystack
where his cousin left him at play.
The theory that the child's body
was placed only a few days ago at the
spot where 1t was found on Saturday
by Div Pleasanton, a farmers son,
while it is still held by most of the
men who took part in the many
searches of the land. has been aban-
doned by the Pinkerton detectives and
the states attorney. Robert L. Rich
ards.
Supported for a time after the find
ing OF the body by the belief that the
boy had been dead only a few days,
1t is made practically untenable by this
assertion of DR.. James H. Wilson, OF
Dover, who PERFORMED an autopsy,
DR.. Wilson says that Heath must have
occurred from four to six weeks age
and that the absence of food from the
tomac shows that starvation was o
contributing cause.
Hours of Terrible Suffering.
How terrible was the struggle OF
the little fellow for his life after he
fell exhausted out of sight of his home
on the desolate march can be judged
by DR.. Wilson'S statement that he
must have lived sorty-eight hours
after his last meal was eaten. The
condition of the stomach, the physi-
clan says, show this. With the bit
ter winds sweeping over him all of
that day and the next night he lay on
the frozen ground half concealed by
the waving marsh grass and died
miserably while the frantic father and
scores of helpers We're searching all
about him.