The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1911-02-09
EXPOSURE CAUSE OF DEATH?
Body of the Girl Was Badly Bruised
But is Thought to Have Resulted
From Her Falling From Fatigue and
Cold Before Death Came.

The mystery surrounding the dlsap-
pearance of Mary Zahon, the daughter
of Paul Zahon of the town of Somers,
who disappeared from her home on the
night of Sunday, Jan. was partially
solved late Wednesday afternoon when
the dead body of the young woman was
found in a deserted cabbage patch on
the farm of Christ j. jacobson, three
miles north of the city on the Rowland
avenue road. The body was found by
jacobson himself who had gone into
the field to spread manure. 1t was par
TALLY covered with leaves of decaying
cabbage and evidently it had been in
the field for many days and possibly
for weeks. The body had been frozen
and the features of the girl were bad
ly distorted by long exposure to the
weather The young woman was clad
only in suit. of underclothing. Her
long, brown hair had been released and
was hanging about her shoulders. The
body was lying on it's back and the
sun had turned the face and arms black.
There were many bruises on the body
the most prominent being three great
bruises. on the front of the head. JAG
OLSON at once notified the officials of
the CHASTITY find and the body was
brought to Kenosha late in the after
noon and taken to the coroner s morgue
Coroner j. III. Stanton is holding an in
quest over the remains this afternoon.
The officials are advancing many the
cries as to the manner in which the
young woman met her death but the
most of the people interested in the
case believe that the young woman
wandered away from her home while
slightly demented and died from expos
ure The fact that her feet were both
blistered seems to indicate that she
tramped for long ways over the froz-
en- ground bare foot. It is thought
that the bruises on her head and other
parts of the body were made by her
falling on the frozen ground. The
great bruises on the head of the girl
might indicate that she had been struck
with some blunt instrument but the po-
lice have not been able to discover my
motive for the killing Of the girl and
for this reason the theory of violent
death is not being given great cred
ence. An effort is being made to find
out everything possible in regard to
the case at the inquest this afternoon.
The Zahon girl had been employed in
one Of the Kenosha factories and it is
known that on the night Of her disap-
pearance she had quarreled with her
father on account of the fact that she
did not admire the sutton for her hand
who had been picked out by her faith
er. The young woman had romance
of her own. She had been friendly
with John Frenyak Of Racine and af
ter her disappearance Frenyak was
found by the police officers and brought
to Kenosha. He admitted that he had
proposed marriage to the young woman
and she received letter Of proposal
from him only a short time before she
disappeared from her home. Frenyak
declared that he had not seen the girl
on the night Of her disappearance but
under cross examination he admitted
that he had come to Somers to call on
the girl but that when he approached
her home he saw. the house was dark
and that he had returned to Racine
without seeking to obtain admission to
the house. Mystery was added to the
case by the fact that few days after
the disappearance Of the girl the faith
er received a telephone message from
some unknown party who had declared
that the girl was in Kenosha but that
she could not be found. The police
looked into this story but were unable
to find the source of the message. Ia
hon had thought it possible that the
girl had been kidnapped but from the
first other members of the family have
believed that she had either committed
suicide or had wandered away and died
from exposure. The clothing Of the
girl was all left at her room and this
gave strong cause for the belief that
the story of her having wandered away
was the true solution of the mystery.
In addition to this was the fact that
the girl had disappeared from home I'M
der similar conditions some time ago
and had been found after several DAYS
wandering.
News was received in Kenosha of
IL t. T e