The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-11-29
|DRAG RESERVOIR
TRYING TO FIND
BODY OF Woman.
Hat Floating on Water
Recognized as Prop
erty OF Mrs. Brown.
BASIN EN- PTIED
BY CITY'S ORDER
Park Keeper and Others Use,
Graphing Hooks, but Fail to
Locate Trace of Missing
Woman-Parasol on Steps.
Suicide Theory
Doubted.

Mute signals OF probable suicide
were found in Byrd Park between II
and IL o'clock yesterday morning.
when Sylvester Willis, All employe at
the reservoir, discovered an umbrella
lying at the top of the steps ut the
east end of the basin and woman s
hat floating in the water q few teet
from the embankment.
Even before 1t had been learned that
Mse. FL b. Brown of 70 North Seven
teenth Street. was missing from her
home. the east basin of the reservoir
was being dragged under orders OF
Superintendent Eugene Il. Davis. Mt.
Davis was notified OF the finding of the
hat and umbrella at IL: :l5 o'clock, and
Immediately sent orders that the
reservoir should be thoroughly search
ed, and that the water should be turn
| ed off. The water is still running out OF
a twelve-inch pipe through to the lake
but 1t will be at least two and pos
sibly three days before the bottom OF
The basin can be seen.
Left Before Brcakfast.
Mrs. Brown, who mad appeared de-
pressed for the last two days, left
her home before breakfast time yestel-
day morning, telling her husband that
she was going out TOR a car ride He
gave her some change, and SHE lef,
without saying w hen she would re-
turn. mat was the last he SAW OF
her, Mhen she failed to return be-
fore dinner he teiepnoned 10 humphrey
Calder, keeper of Byrd Park. and asked
him Ii a woman had been seen during
the day walking through the park. Mr.
Calder informed him of the discovery
of the urnbyellu and hat, and. with an
Y 81 la I've
receiver.
With severa. friends, lie arrived ati
the reservoir at I o'clock. He was in
terrible state of excitement, and WAS
carefully watched by the friends VINO
accompanied him. He Identified tho
umbrella and hat, and then Went TO
Mr. Calder's house, where he used the
telephone to find out whether his Wife
had returned. a negative answer ca me.
my God, she's gone" he exclaimed.
and nearly collapsed.
They Saw NO ono.
1t had been raining before II O'CLOCK,
II. j. Vaughan. keeper of the Reser.
voir, and Willis. an assistant, sought
shelter In the watch house at the west
BASIN from where all approach TO taat
part of the Reservoir could have plainly
been seen. No one came within theit
line OF vision Then. as the rain held
up. aIr. Wills walked around the basin.
He first saw the woman's parasol lying
at the top OF the steps. He looked
around hastily for other signs of
woman's presence, but found none. Hs
cast glance in the direction of the
water and there. a few feet from ths
slippery edge, he saw the hat toatin9
on the surface.
He called Mr.. Vaughan, and the two
men procured hook. and, leaning
from the edge. drew the hat In. No
water had soaked through. and 1t was
wet only where Il mad touched the wa
ter and where rain drops had fallen
on its top. 'Sne umbrella was found to-
be hardly wet The inner folds were
not even damp. and on the surface 81
presented to the sky were only q few
scattered drops of rain, showing thii-
neither hat nor umbrella had been ~
ing there long,
Ordered Basin Drained.
They notified Mr.. Davis at once, and
he issued orders that the basin os
drained. that the supply running irons
it into the city mains be Shut of. s..1
that the east basin he dragged. Nhs
police were notified about 59 59oclock.
Park Keeper Calder was then called
to the ,cene, The tlTer men made .
careful examination Of the grounas.
but could find no trace of human Icat
On the sodden ground. soaked with ths
hard rain. 1t was possible that foct-5a
prints might have been obliteratsd ~
the action of the water seepinS
through, but OH the fence there Wa
no sign of a torn garment, and on tH9
mud coating the side OF the emhank-
ment there was no sign
Around the bottom of the spiked
iron railing which surrounds the res
ervoir is stretched poultry-yard wire
and on this n woman. II she had at.
tempted to climb over would hays
had to step But 1t was not bent. The
water was four feet at least below the
top line of the coating OF mud, ans
here body sliding In would have left
an impression that would have lasted
until the water had arisen sofar as tc
cover 1t But even the mud gave forth
no sign, Mr. Calder climbed over the
fence, and holding to 1t scraped his
foot into tho mud. 1t left n psrfectly
visible trace,
Doubt suicide Theory,
NIr. Calder and his assistants. Mr.
Vaughan and Mr.. Willis, are all skep-
ticalSas to the idea that the missing
woman threw herself into the basin
The only way by which she coulo
have done so would have been TO climb
carefully to the top OF the fence. and
then to have jumped over an inter-
vening space of ten or twelve feet,
flat practically impossible,
But in order that there might ba
no mistake and that the citizens or
Richmond might not become alarmed:
the city supply from the east bastn
was shut on The basin is about
twenty.three feet deep and contains
$4,000, 900 OF ao.ooo,ono gallons of sa-
ter, Morgan 4 Mills, chairman es
the Water Committee, stated last
night that there Mould be no aansee