Weekly journal-miner. [volume] (Prescott, Ariz.) 1908-1929, 1914-10-28
BODY OF
EKEROTH IS
FOUND
HAD HUNG WITHIN THE
CITY LIMITS MORE
THAN SIX WEEKS AND
BADLY DECOMPOSED
(From Tuesdays DaiIy.)


Decomposed to the extent the
joints were disconnected and the
flesh slipping from the bones, the
body of Otto F. Ekeroth was found
Sunday morning at about 9 o'clock
within the city limits OF Prescott,
and a mystery of over six weeks
standing was cleared up.
The Respondent man had hung
/ himself with a necktie to a scrub
oak bush, the ends of the tie be-
| ing fastened to the DAD not more
than two feet from the ground
| The spot where the self-inflicted
death occurred is but about three
hundred yards from the south end
OF Montezuma street, just in the
brush near the pit where the city
secures sand and gravel for street
work, and it is probable many peo-
pie had passed that way since the
tragedy occurred.
The grewsome find was made by
w. J. Rosenberg. and in the dis
covery is a coincidence of pecu-
| liar character. Rosenberg is the
man who last saw Ekroth alive.
When the man came up missing
! Rosenberg reported that he saw
him going down the street in the
direction of where he met his doom.
As soon as the body was found
Judge McLane, acting as coroner,
was notified He had the corpse
identified by Harry Brisley, the
druggist for whom he had worked,
and the man who found it both Civ
ing testimony before a jury COM
posed by J. F. Mahoney, Ben Sill
verman, John Fitzgerald, A. P. De
laney, William Herndon and John
Massing. who rendered verdict to
the effect that the deceased came
to his death as the result of hang
ing by his own hand. *
Mrs. Augusta Cressy, sister OF
the dead man, who lives at Phoe
| nix, and who had made a state
wide search for her brother, offer
| ing a reward OF twenty-five dollars
'or the body, dead or alive, was
| notified, and she fastened here to
make arrangements for the burial
which will take place today at ten
o'clock from the Ruffner mortuary
| chapel. Mrs. Cressy, who is very
much grief-stricken is stopping at
the home of Mrs. Philip Hoover.
| $50 North Pleasant St.
History of Case.
| Ekeroth came to Prescott some
time since from Seattle, where he
. had been engaged as a hospital
steward. He was a registered phar-
nacist and secured employment at
the Brisley drug store. Some time
lfterward he was arrested on the
,harge OF having been too free in
the disposal of dope" and held
in the county Jail pending trial
before the federal court Friends
interviewed and the charge was dis
missed but couple of days after
ward he appeared at the jail and
asked permission to be re-incar-
cerated. Refused, he left the jail
n an apparent respondent mood,
and the last time he was seen alive
he was going toward the spot
where his body was found, carry
ing a suitcase, the man who found
the body being the one to report
his fact to the authorities. The
and made practically a statewide
search for her brother. \ skeleton
was found near Tucson, and it was
At first thought this might be the
remains of Ekeroth, but this idea
was soon given up, and everyone
abandoned the search. at which time
the sister offered the reward.
Sunday morning Rosenberg was
passing by the city cut and noticed
a suitcase in the brush. lnvestiga-
ton revealed the body nearby. The
respondent man had evidently Sc
cludcd himself in the brush for the
purpose of ending his life He had
taken coat and pair OF trousers
from the suitcase, OF which he made
a sort of resting place. Evidently
he had lain down on his stomach
united his necktie. leaving it about
his throat, reached up over his
head and tying the ends to short
scrub oak. permitting the weight
of his body to shut off his breath.
and Strargling to death in posi-
ton from which it would have been
easy for a man OF normal mind
to have saved himself at will
Deceased was about fifty years
old
-O-