The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1907-05-09
BOY Mel
ACCIDENTAL DEATH
Report Of Or. Wilson Leads Dr.
Marvin to Believe Son was
Not Murdered.

Dover. Del, May s.-Dr. Horace Mar
win is now so far reconctled to the the
DRY OF accidental death that ne VIII &C
cept without further Investigation u
the %coroner's Jury shall render sucn 9
verdict.
Since the discovery OF the body ne
has stoutly maintained the belief that
1T was placed on the marsh only o. day.
Tor two before it was foundry q Kids
tnaper, who sought in this way to divert
suspicion from the real cause OF the
lchildss disappearance.
Statement by Or. Marvin.
81 am forced In spite of my former
iconviction to the belief In he ossibil-5
lily that my boy did wander out there
and die" said DIR Marvin. Until h
doctors examined Horace's body Ibid
mot think 1t looked as though life had
been extinct more than a few days.
But DR.. Wilson'S statement that death
must have occurred at least four o v
weeks ago,p puts a different aspect upon
1t. His discovery also that there was
no food in the poor little fellows stom.
lach. showing that he died more than a.
day after he had last eaten. tends to
show that he may nave lain out there
fbenumbed by the cold, while we were
hunting all around him.
7 stiIl cannot see how he walked
Ial that distance in h short time
before we began to search for him
and how his body escaped u obser-
walton In the many times we searched
the marsh, but such things they say
have happened before. remember
distinctly. that Mr.. Pearce, OF the
Pinkerton detective force and / were
ht he very spot where the body wal
found several weeks ago. There wat
only q little water there then, and
while / sat on q log nearby Mr.
Pearce walked through 1t In his rub.
Der boots. We thought we searched
L 4 t1N M CrhyrY hut NrynM 49, ~ hnv rn NHN~~~
mistaken.
MY interest in the ase is ended,
I know where my boy is now and ]
care not what h authorities may
do. If in the future they find evidence
thai Horace was murdered I shall do
guilty persons, but IL the %coroner's
Jury finds that the boys death was
an accident l shall accept the ver-
Dict
Accident Fairly Certain.
While formal inquiry has been
temporarily halted. enough has been
learned within the past twenty-four
hour to establish with a fair degree
of certainty that the little boy came
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 Oliver 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 h 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 q few days
1t is made practically untenable by thu
assertion Of DR.. James H. WILSON,, O,
Dover, who performed an autopsy
DR.. Wilson says that death must hav,
occurred from four to six weeks agt
and that the absence of food from Ii,
stomach shows that starvation was {
contributing cause
Hours Of Terrible Suffering.
How terrible was the struggle O,
the little fellow for his life after ht
fell exhausted out Of sight OF his home
on the desolate march can be Judged
by DR.. Wilson'S statement thai he
must have lived forty-eight hours
after his last meal was eaten. Tht
condition Of the stomach, the physi.
clan says. shows this. With the bit.
ter winds sweeping over him all o,
that day and the next night he lay OF
the frozen ground half concealed b,
the waving marsh grass and diet
miserably while the frantic father an(
scores Of helpers were searching al
about him.