Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1907-01-31
Body of Pioneer Jonathan
Maxon, Rivers Victim,
Stolen Years Ago BY
DR.. Buck.
TRUTH TOLD AFTER
HALF A CENTURY
While Widow seined River
for Body the Bones Were
in Physicians Office

After half century. the mys-
terry surrounding the dls-
appearance of the body of JON
athan Maxon. after being sucked
into the, quicksands of the Des
Moines river at Eddyville. has
been cleared by the long withheld
confession of Thomas B. Kale that
the body distracted wife and
family sought for in vain had been
stealthily removed from the river
bottom by DR. Buck, for years Ed
dyville's leading physician. to pro-
vide his Office with a skeleton.
DR.. Buck and Charles Lutz. both
long since dead. located the body
while the other searchers were
SEEMING the river. and at night car
ried it to the physicians Office,
where it was disemboweled and
later become the only skeleton In
town. Kale learned of the guilty
deception by chance. but was
sworn to secrecy.
But in order to secure pension
for the then wife of Maxon, who
has since married again and is
twice widow. it was necessary
to prove up the death of MaXon.
and yesterday Kale swore before
a notary public in Eddyville to his
knowledge of the theft OF the body.
(By John R. Sipes.)
Eddyville, Jan. 29.-(Special.) Years
ago. before the civil war. there lived
in Eddyville. block east of where the
Rock Island depot now stands. Jona'
than Maxon. with his wife and three
children One summer evening 8
youth named Ben Slemmons. standing
on the river bank. saw this Maxon ap.
proach the ford below where John
sons sawmill now stands. strip off his
clothes. tie them up into small bun
die. and fastening them to an axe he
carried started to wade across the
river AS he approached the island
"a land mark well know to old set.
tIersl he suddenly began to struggle,
thrasbing wildly about in the water
and calling for HELM. Still struggling
madly. he shortly disappeared beneath
the water Slemmons Immediately
gave the alarm and an immense crowd
gathered; they searched the river
above and below; securing seines
they seined the water for hours, and
for days after they patrolled the river
banks. but the only trace Of the mis-
sing man ever found was his axe
which John Henry Besco recovered
from the river the next summer.
An Oft Told Story.
1t was thought that Msxon. not be
ing we'll acquainted with the ford. had
wandered off the path and stepped in
to a quicksand uncovered by the water
which sucked him out of sight forever
No, they never found the quicksan6
bed, but the river came up shortly
after that and probably covered II
over again. Such is the generally &C
copied version of the tragic disap
pearance Of the body Of Maxon, who
was drowned in the Des Moines rivel
in the summer of 1860. and so told tt
the younger generation of Eddyville
for the past At years.
Afterwards the widow moved ava,
and married again, this time soldie
Of the civil war. He is now dead ant
his widow, who lives in Indian Terri
tory, is applying for pension T,
complete the records showing she wa
the legal wife of her soldier husband
the government required that sh
show proof of the death of her frs
husband. Maxon, and she sent back t
Eddyville for the required proof.
Story Leaks Out.
About ten years ago Charles Luti
~ 1a3c -
time citizens, told to convivial gatt
ering in the back room of a dowr
town restaurant, the inside story c
the disappearance Of Maxon.
In the crowd who went in scare
of Maxon's body was DR.. Buck. Edd,
ville's leading physician and the bes
swimmer and diver on the river. H
searched the bottom of the hole wher
Maxon had disappeared and locate
the body. AS he found it, a sudde
thought struck him. He had bee
wanting a good human skeleton.
the body was not found here was tn
material placed providentially at hant
When the searchers came with seine
to drag the river he told them that h
had searched the hole thoroughly. Th
sLTOHS current udu undoubtedly uOd
ed the body down the stream. The
should seine below. A wise idea, The
seined the river for hours without r.
suit. One by one the searchers tire
out and finally quit.
After midnight DR.. Buck got on
horse wagon and taking his goo
friend, Charles Lutz, with him, wer
down and recovered the body, putin
it in the back room of DR.. Buck
office. The next day Tom Kale acc
dentally got fish hook caught in hi
i e nn,, co canlrolu ha had Ia, haua