The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1908-10-15
Boys Seeking Nuts Find Dlsmem-
bered Body Of Man on Riley
Farm South of Kenosha
NO CLUE TO IDENTITY FOUND
Man is Thought to Have Been a Victim
of Suicide But it is Possible That
He Was Murdered
Attracts Wide Attention
(From Mondays Daily

AEIOIu uhOhuCy Dd1AJ
Boys searching for nuts on the Riley
farm along the state line six miles
south Of the city on Sunday made
CHASTITY discovery in the way of por-
ton of the body Of man. The portion
of the remains found included the |
trunk but it was so terribly mutilated |
that it is impossible to tell anything
of the probable age or build of the man.
The body was found in a deep thicket |
and it was almost completely hidden by |
the thick underground of bushes. !;
Coroner Andre and his assistants and
the members Of the jury were forced
to tear aside the low bushes in order
to get to the place where the portion
of the remains were found. The trunk |
of the man was brought to the Robert
shaw and Rutledge morgue and the
coroner at once began an investigation
of the case.
Whether the remainder of the body
had been at the spot where the trunk
was found is wholly a matter Of con
lecture. The portion of the body found
mad been torn to pieces by dogs and it
is thought possible that they may have
carried away the head, arms, limbs and
other missing parts. The thoracic
cavity had been torn open and the
man s heart, lungs and bowels had been
torn out.
It is evident that the body had been
laying in the thicket for many weeks
and possibly months as the skin on the
body had grown hard and for the most
part the trunk was completely numifed
1t was SO discolored that-when it was
first found officials thought that it mad
been burned but later investigation
showed that the condition was due to
it having been left exposed to the ele-
ments for SO long a time. For the past
two weeks dogs belonging to Riley
had been seen going over into the
woods and it is thought that these dogs
dismembered the body and that they
possibly carried away and buried the
missing parts. There is also the con-
lecture that the man was murdered and
the body dismembered and a portion of
it thrown into the thicket while the
remaining parts were disposed Of else
where, but Coroner Andre does not
look with favor on this theory.
Not great way from the place where
the body was found, at the foot Of
small tree the coroner found thirty
eight calibre revolver with four cham
bers empty and covered over with
lot of leaves he found a pocketbool1
containing $3.50 in cash. There were
no cards or anything to show the identi-
ty of the dead man or aid in the solu-
tion of the mystery surrounding the
manner in which he met his death.
Inc shoes which had been worn by
the dead man were found lying some
ten feet from the body. Tt seemed
from the surroundings that the man
had gone to this secluded spot and
carefully destroying anything that
might lead to the discovery Of his
identity had deliberately shot himself,
and had dropped back into the thicket
to die. There was nothing on the por
tion of the body found to show that
the man had killed himself, but it is
supposed that the shot which caused
his death pierced the missing skull.
After the finding Of the trunk Coro-
ner Andre and his assistants searched
in the thicke for a distance of more
than 800 yards from the place where
the body was found, but they found
no trace of the skull or the other miss
ing parts of the body. While the body
was terribly decomposed one Of the
portions seemed to indicate that it had
been chewed oy dog or some other
animal within the past few days.
The woods on the Riley farm are
about a quarter of mile from the
house and they are grown with brush
and small bushes as to make them of
little value for farming purposes and
it is seldom that any of the members
OF the family go to that part of the
farm. No one had been seen going in
the direction of the woods in the past
few weeks and the people in the neigh
borhood could throw no light on the
case.
The clothing which the man had
worn part of which still chung to the
trunk was Of good quality. The man
had evidently worn a black pair of
pants and white underwear. The re-
mainder Of the clothing is missing.
The shoes were of the w. L. Douglas
make and had been worn for some
time.