The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1911-08-05
FOUND In RIVER
Nystel ious Deaih OF Young Han Arouses
Suspicion Of Foul Play.
MURDER OR ACCIDENT?

Had Been Missing Since Monday
Night.-Friends Unable to Ad.
vance Any Theory.-Left Valua-
bles at Boarding House When He
Said Goodbye to Room Mate.
The mysterious death Of Mr.. R.
c. Snirer, Of this city, at Augusta,
Ca, was noted in the last issue of
The Times and Democrat. The fol-
lowing particulars of the sad trag-
edy we take from the Augusta
Chronicle of Thursday.
With his neck broken and ,bruise
on the side of the head indicating
Ia blow, the dead body of Robert
e. Shirer, baggage master on South
ern trains % and r., between Angus
ia and Branchville, was found float
ing in the Savannah river Wednes-
DAT morning under the railroad tres
tie near the northern end of Wash
irgton street. He had been missing
since Monday night and the cause
Of his death is shrouded in a mys-
terry.
Whether the young man was foul
ly murdered and his body thrown
into the river in the vain hope that
it would conceal the crime, or missed
his footing and fell from the
trestle into the shallow water as
he was walking across in the dark,
are the questions which are puzzling
the officials of the law and cahsing
much speculation among the friends
of young Shirer, and many others
who were discussing the mystery.
No motive either for murder or sui
eide has been discovered.
An inquest was held by Coroner
Ramsey Wednesday afternoon at the
undertaking establishment Of W. Ed
ward Platt, where the remains had
been taken earlier in the day. Ex-
cept for the testimony Of DR.. J. H.
Littleton, the coroner's physician,
that death was caused by broken
neck, there was no testimony to indi-
cate in the remotest degree, in which
manner death came to the unfortun-
ate victim; nothing that would
throw even the faintest ray of light
into the darkness in which the case
is enveloped.
The jury after few minutes de-
liberation, returned the verdict that
"R. C.. Shirer came to his death by
a broken neck, cause unknown to
;ury." '' -
Shirer gcame in on his last regular
run at 1880 o'clock Monday night.
He was lat the Washington Candy
Kitchen about 11:S0: and, according
to the evidence of c. V. Kiisel, his
roommate and J. H. Cunningham,
who is also boarder at 80 Wash
irgton Street, where the three young
men lived, Shirer came to their
rooms at about 1880 o'clock that
night and left his watch, a ring and
a gold pin. He went out a few
minutes later saying that he was
going to the tenderloin.
That was the last time he was
seen alive, so far as there is any
evidence or other facts to show.
wednesday morning, at 7:15
o'clock, 81 hours later, his body was
seen floating under the bridge by
Frank Jones, a negro switchman for
the Southern railway. Jones was
crossing the trestle on top OF
freight car being switched into the
city, and called to J. H. Kinard, the
section track foreman, who was
standing nearby, ready to leave for
work with his men; and told him
of what he had seen.
Mr.. Kinard Immediately went down
the steep emhankment to the river
side and finding the body dragged
it ashore. 1t was floating face down.
ward in a depth of water variously
estimated by witnesses as being from
IS inches to two feet deep, and from
three to six feet from the bank.
C. NJ. Foucher, a night watchnnan
for the Southern, whose duties re-
quire his presence around the end OF
the trestle where the CHASTITY find was
made testified that he had not seen
the body in the river, although he
had been on almost every spot the
afternoon before, and had crossed the
trestle that morning a short while
before Jones, the negro switchman,
saw the corpse floating underneath.
Mr.. Fourcher said lady and sew
eral children were on the river bank
the afternoon before the hody was
discovered and the children were
playing with dog in the sand where,
12 hours later, the lifeless form was
laid after having been drawn from
the water. The natural conclusion
from this is that the body either
hoated down there from further up
the stream during the dark hours of
the night or was lying in the mud
on the bottom until the formation
cc gases caused it to rise to the
surface between dark and daylight.
The statements of several persons,
who saw the young man Monday
night within a few hours of and i'm