Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1911-02-04
BODY OF PH|LRS
MASTER IS
SOUGHT IN OCE AN
Richard L. Ashhurst Is Thought
to Have Been
Drowned.
LAST SEEN ON PIER AT
ATT .ANTH CETV MONDAY
Authorities Entertain but Scant
Hope of Recovering
the Body.

ATLANTIC CITY, Feb. 4.-There was
nothing new to tell early today re-
garding the disappearance of Richard
L. Ashhurst. postmaster of Philadel-
phia, who disappeared on the Strand
last Monday night. He dropped com
did not leave behind the slightest clue
by which he can be traced. Whether
the family of the aged postmaster
know anything beyond what has been
published concerning his disappearance
cannot be learned, as they refuse to
be interviewed and are conducting
their search for him through the po-
lice
Believes Man Is Dead.
Chief of Police Woodruff. who says
he was notified of the disappearance OF
Mr.. Ashhurst the night he dropped out
of sight, today expressed the belief
that the man is dead. The last person
to see him was the chair-pusher who
wheeled him to the million dollar pier
at S:45 o'clock Monday night Mr..
Ashhurst, according to this man, ap-
peared cheerful and as he walked on
the pier he told the chairman that he
need not wait for him. After this in
formation had been impaired to the
police and every clue as to his where
abouts had been run out Chief Wood
ruff came to the conclusion that MT.
Ashhurst either fell or jumped from
the pier into the ocean. The portion
of the pier extending far out into the
ocean Is unfrequented In winter. and
It would not be difficult for anyone to
walk out to the end without being OBJ
served, especially at night when the
ocean end of the long structure Is not
lighted in mid-winter.
Chief of Police Woodruff, seen today
said that he had worked out every
thing that had been given him or that
his detectives and police could dis
cover but 1t had availed nothing. II
seems as though the earth or the ocean
had opened and swallowed him as COM
pletely as the whale swallowed Jonah, y
said Chief Woodruff.
"This afternoon we will adopt new
plan. It may be that the missing man
fell from the deck of the million dol
- O~NN-"
ing caught fast to the stakes driven
along there to hold the head into the
fish-net. If he IS caught on any of
those stakes I am sure we shall re-
cover the body in day or two at the
longest. have made arrangements to
have men make a thorough search Of
every one of these stakes and OF tho
pilings of the pier, and while that Will
take some time and involve lot OF
work, yet we will have the satisfaction
of knowing something definite when the
search is completed.
A Mysterious Case.
ut Is a mysterious case, and while
we have been rather loathe to believe
that Ashhurst is drowned, yet I don't
see what else has become of the man.
We have learned positively that he
left the hotel Monday night, took
roller chair and went as far as the
Million Dollar Pier with man named
Stephen Lacy He left the chair and
Lacy and said he was going on the
pier to listen to the music. He went
in on the pier and that was the last
seen of him. We have not been able
to discover anybody who saw the man
leave the mushroom of the pier. And
he would have been obliged to leave
that in case he either fell or jumped
overheard.
I'VE hope to have something DEFINITE
In the course of another ten hours. at
least"
It is known that Mr.. ABhhurst, who
was 70 years old, was not we'll and
came to "the shore" for rest He mad
apartments at the Marlborough Blen-
helm Hotel with several members of
his family
Dragging Ocean Bed.
Dragging OF the ocean bed about the
pier was continued today without any
hope of finding a body, as the constant
motion of the water probably would
have carried a corpse up or down the
coast. The beach from the inlet to
Longport, distance of about ten
miles. also is being searched and
watched.
The stir about the disappearance of
Mr.. Ashhurst recalls the mysterious
death of Jane Adams a 16-year- old
girl, who fell from the same pier on a
dark night. A sensational trial of her
male companion followed, the man be-
ing acquitted