The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-04-20
STAR GkzER'S
BODY FOUND IN
JORDAN RIVER
AStro- Maniac Believed to Have
SuCCumbed to TerrorS
of Imagination.
PREDICTED DESTRUCTION
OF SALT LAKE CITY
MOTHER AND SISTER WERE UN-
AWARE OF HIS PRESENCE
IN THE CITY.


- salt Lake will be destroyed by -
:. an earthquake in the summer of -
:. 1905" was his prediction. The body ::
:. of Andrew ]. JudsOn, an amateur ::
- astronomer and prophet of disas- -
:. ter, who predicted the destruction =
:. of Salt Lake, was found floating =:
:. i'm Jordan river yesterday morning. :"
:. Harassed by thoughts of dire ca =
- lamity, it is believed that, to es- -
:. cape the terTOrs of his magma y
- ton, he drowned himself. -
Finding the body of a dead man
floating in the Jordan river at Fourth
North and Fifteenth West streets. yes
| terday morning about 1880 o'clock, w.
G. BOuck, a farmer, lost no time in in
forming the police of his gruesome dis
! covery. When the body was taken to
! O'Donnelrs undertaking establishment,
papers were found in the pockets of the
dead mans clothing indicating that he
was Andrew j. JudsOn, formerly an
employe at the Garfield smelter. The
/ body was badly decompOsed and had
| apparently been in the river six or
I seven weeks.
! 1t is believed that Judson, who was
a student of astronomy, became de-
ranged in worrying over astronomical
problems, and threw himself into the
river.
/ Little is known about Judson. al
though he was a Salt Lake boy. A
! search of his clothing resulted in the
/ finding of several old newspapers,
[ bearing dates of last August; a key to
/ safe deposit box No. 600 of the Salt
/ Lake Security and Trust company and
/ also Z receipt for the rent he had paid
for the box; some Pullman car tickets
used in a journey from San Francisco;
a watch and a few other articles.
1t was learned yesterday afternoon
that Judson was the son of Mrs. Anna
B. Judson, of 327 South Thirteenth
East street, and a brother of Mrs. Z. J.
Griner. Edwin Judson. a brother, is
now in business in Chicago.
Has Many Pecuiarities.
Judson was born in Salt Lake in Au-
gust, 1876. He was educated in the
public schools here and attended the
high school. His father died about
twenty years ago. Five years later,
Judson left home and went east, work.
ing in Chicago as a printer. When he
returned to Salt Lake last fall, he did
not visit his mother and sister, and
they did not know that he was in the
city.
His relatives say that he was a man
of many peculiaTities, as was indicated
in the manner in which he remained
away from his mother, although so near
} her. He was of a saving disposition
and is said to have considerable money
deposited i'm the Zion Savings bank
I and other Salt Lake institutions
Until told Of his death. the mans
mother did not know that he had been
in this part of the country.
Reads Much Astronomy.
Among the few in Salt Lake who
remember JudsOn is c. f. Hunt. pro-
| prietOr of the Columbia hotel at PA
/ West South Temple street JudsOn
went to the hotel from Garfield last
/ fall. He appeared to be about thirty
years old and seemed plentifully sup
piled with money. His peculiarities Of
character soon attracted attention. He
/ had a number of works upon astrono-
my. which he read necessarily When
! he found someone who would listen to
him. he made strange predictions Of
earthquakes and disasters, declaring,
among other things, that Salt Lake
would be destroyed this summer by a
! seismic shock that would change the
/ face of things in this vicinity. Mr.
| Hunt looked upon JudsOn as a harm
/ less fellow, who was slightly dement,
ed. After stopping at the Columbia
hotel for about month, JudsOn went
to New York, then visited the James
town exposition and returned to Salt
Lake He reached the city some time
after the Latter-Day Saints conference
last fall and remained at the Column
bia hotel until February >. That day
he packed up his books and other be-
Iongings and departed. He was not
seen again by Mr.. Hunt
Not Recorded at Smeiter.
AT the Garfield smelter it was stated
last night that there was no record
there which showed that Andrew j.
JudsOn had been employed at the plant
On March q a man who was known
Continued on Page 2.