Evening times-Republican., 1913-12-31
WEIRD RIVER TEST
MAN ATTEMPTS TO WADE INTO
RIVER WHERE WHEELocK's
BODY WAS FOUND.
FINDS TASK IMPOSSIBLE
WHEN CARRYING WEIGHT
coronsr's Jury Witnesses Test and
Concludes WhseIoek Could Not Have
Entered Water Alone-eody OF
Wheelock May Be Eshumed and Ex-
ar,ined For Traces Of Poison.
Special to Times-Republican.

| Special to Times Republican.
! Des Moines, Dec. 31.-Practical!
| convinced that Mortimer B. WheelocN
could not have waded into the mole IN
the Des Moines river where his bodS
was found, weighted down with one
hundred pounds of rock tied around his
neck, the jurors probing the case have
turned to the murder theory for the
solution of the ColfaN mystery.
They came to this conclusion follow
ing a wierd test late yesterday, on the
very spot where the cashiers body
was found. A. L. Bradley, brother o1
Fred Bradley, tennis champion, tried
to force his way with wading boots
through the mud bottom of the river,
loaded down with a sack containing
about sixty pounds of rock on his
shoulders. When he had completed
his test, he declared that he dio not
belive any man could reach the spos
where Wheelock's body was discovered.
Coroner Lee declared that If the
jurors deem it advisable he will order
the body OF Wheelcck exhumed. Cor
ouer Lee declares there is just one
end to be gained by taking the body
from its grave-to determine whether
there is any trace Of poison.
No juror will say positively that he
believes Wheelock was murdered. All
declared. however. that Wheeiock
could not possibly have reached the
hole in the river by wading.
Wader Sinks into Mud.
Coroner Lee has not decided when
the inquest will be resumed. Several
new witnesses will be summoned in an
attempt to show where Wheelock was
Wednesday night.
The test on the bank Of the river.
seven miles north of Des Moines, We
strangely traordinary. Coroner Lee
and the three Jurors, Mr.. Bradley.
Leroy Dunn. undertaken, and news
paper men, reached the bank at noor.
They found the eddy in which Whee-
locks body was found covered with
coat Of six inches of ice. An az was
procured. Holes were cut in many
places to test the depth OF the water.
1t was an impossibility to cut away
all the ice.
lQd!ly d SIidii StIlp Oh ICE woS
moved near the shore. The officials at
tempted to follow the path that Whee-
lock must have taken into the hole, II
| he committed suicide.
At the rock beach where the sack
around wheelocks neck was evidently
filled. about sixty pounds Of rock was
placed. The rock around Wheelock's
neck weighed at least hundred
pounds
Bradley. wearing wading boots. step
ped into the hole where the ice was
removed. The water was not more than
a foot deep. But he sank another foot
and a half in Shiny mud. The rocks
were placed on his shoulders. His feet
went deeper. He struggled to the other
end of the little ice channel, about FIVE
feet all told. He struck sand bottom
after piercing the mud with his boots,
two feet. But he found it almost i'm
possible to pull his feet out of the mud
to take another step. He was helped
out of the hole when he had reached
the end. His boots were covered with
sticky mud that jurors declared
would require a strong current to wash
off
Bradley told the jurors he did not
believe a man could walk into this mud
weighed down as Wheelock was. Brad
ley mad waded in only one and two feet
| of water.
Wheelock had waded into seven feet
Of water. 1t was shown that there
it at least a mud bottom two feet thick
in the bottom Of this hole.
How could Mortimer Wheelock. the
| Jurors ask. wade into a hole over his
head, carrying a burden almost as
| heavy as himself. and sink two feet
in the mud with every step?
No Mud on Whesloek.
There was not the least trace Of mud
| on Wheelock's shoes. in his shoe laces,
| on his socks, or in the top of his shoes
when examined at the Undertaking
| parlors. Jurors say that he could not
| have walked in the sticky clinging
! mud without having some of it left on
/! his feet and legs.
Bradley found it practically impos-
| sibIe to carry sixty pounds of rock in
one foot of water without sinking in
mud foot and half deep.
| Yet # Wheelock committed suicide,
he would have had to walk five times
| the distance Bradley did, carrying
/ twice the load. and through wafer
seven feet deep-over his head.
! Bradley and Wheelock are of apou.
! the same physical stature. The jurors
believe the test is the best evidence
| that they could possibly secure.
No Water In Lungs.
| The jurors chopped several holes in
| the ice and rammed poles into the bot
tom. In every hole. the poles came
out covered with mud.
The question that is now before the
investigators is, how did Wheelock GET
| into the river?
Undertaken Leroy Dunn who took
care Of the body reiterated his declara-
ton today that there was no trace OF
water in the mans lungs. The one
conclusion uppermost in the minds OF
the jurors Is that Wheelock was prob
ably dead before he went to the bottom
Of the river.
s1RIkEsREAKER KILLED.
Clinton, Ill.,, Editor Fires Six euIlstl