Washington State journal and Adams County news. [volume] (Ritzville, Wash.) 1906-1907, 1907-05-08
WAS NOT KIDNAPPED
BODY Of HORACE MARVIN
FOUND; LONG MISSING.
Body Found Face Downward and Half
Mile From Fathers Farm Near
Dover, DeI.-Had Formerly Lived In
Sioux City, IoWa-Father Thinks He
Was murdered.

Dover, Del-The body of little Ho-
the farm of his father at Kittsham-
mock, near here, March 4, was found
Saturday afternoon in a marsh in a
state of preservation. The spot where
the body was found is half mile east
OF the farmhouse, toward the Della
ware river. Kittshammock is between
seven and eight miles from here, and
from information brought here by a
horseman it is learned that the clothes
upon the child are the same he wore
the day he disappeared. The body was
face downward.
The marsh was frozen over the day
the boy disappeared. There is theory
that the boy was murdered and his
tcdy placed in the marsh, as the long
grass where the body was found was
burned and cleared four weeks ago
IT is said the body lay under a pile OF
grass and that the clothing showed
no evidence of having been touched
by fire.
DR.. Marvin has given out the fol.
lowing statement.
1.-THE terrible developments simply
confirm the theory to which I have
held all along-that my boy was MUIR
dered. l think he was either the vic
tim of degenerate or kidnappers who
lost their nerve after they had secured
the child. I still believe that Detec-
tive Lore was on the right track when
ha t,ta faI he ~
the attorney general"
Clues which the detectives have
Teen following swiftly since the find
ing of the body point consistently to a
man well known to the father of the
dead boy, and 1t Is tho general belief
In Dover that the now famous Mar
vim kidnapping mystery--second only
in interest to the famous Charley Ross
case-is near solution.
The body of the year old victim
Of one of the cruelest tragedies ever
perpetrated In Delaware lies in a room
in the fathers house, water soaked
and begrimed with marsh slime, the
physician-father having forbidden 1t
being touched until the coroner and
Attorney General Robert H. Richards
arrive tomorrow to hold the inquest,
which is expected to show the methods
hy which the child's death was
wrought. So far no announcement has
been made at DIR. Marvin's home other
than that the grief stricken father is
confident that his child was the victim
of foul play. No examination has been
made and It is not known whether the
child was strangled. starved, dubbed
to death or drowned.
It Is impossible to say even On the
word of those who saw the child's
body how long he had been dead. The
remains were in SO well a preserved
state as almost to have excluded the
possibility Of the boys having been
killed on March 4. the date of his dis
appearance. On the other hand, they
appeared in too advanced a stage Of
decomposition for the murder to have
taken place as recently as two days
ago.
There is much to make 1t appear
that the boy wandered away and fell
exhausted into the pool. No marks Of
violence we're found on the body. The
stomach was empty, and the child may
either have been frozen or starved to
death. Detectives are perplexej at the
finding of the body near the Marvin
home and at point which they had
walked over again and again.
Sensation In Sioux City.
Sioux City, Iowa, May 6.-The find