The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1920-04-29

To assure himself that the body
of the unidentified man found in the
Kenosha harbor in April, 1915, and
later buried in the potter's field at
the Green Ridge cemetery was not
the body of his father, Captain George
A. Umberham, an Algoma light house
keeper, who was drowned seven years
ago, G. Amiel Umberham of Green
Bay came to Kenosha Tuesday after
noon and reopened one of the oldest
and strangest mysteries of Kenosha.
The younger Umberham intended to
sift the clues Of the mystery as far
as possible and if this appeared to be
the body of his father, he intended
to exhume the remains and take them
to Washington Island cemetery near
Green Bay, where they could be buried
in the family plot there.
By his visit here, Umberham, by his
investigating all of the records of the
case available, left with the identity
Of the body yet undetermined ard
mystery even more heavily hanging
over the case than before.
! Father Drowned in 1913.
II know my father Cantain Geerg
Umberham, was drowned "a the .iisssl
of February 3, 1918," explained I'm
berham to officials in Kenosha. "He
had gone to Kewaunee and was pilot
ing the ship Reliance to Algoma on
its maiden trip. He was steering with
out compass and watching the lights
on the shore when he missed his
footing and fell overheard.
"None of the crew was near him
i but he was missed only a few min
utes after. One of them heard a cry
for help and they backed the boat to
attempt to resuce him. When they
reached the place there was nothing
but ice, as the waters had circled over
his head. For years we watched every
marine journal but we found no clues
to help us in recovering the body"
Finds Clue in Five Years.
In January, 1920, Umberham happen
ed to find clipping from Milwau-
kee paper, telling how body which
had once been identified as that of
Joseph Papan, and buried at the St
| George cemetery under that name, had
become again identified when Papan
who had strangely disappeared from
Kenosha, was found alive and we'll in
California. This body had been found
in the Kenosha harbor in bad state
of decomposition, indicating that it
had been in the water for many weeks.
Umberham wrote Immediately to Ke-
nosha lodge of Odd Fellows, since
his father had been prominent mem
Der Of that order, asking them to send
more details regarding the case and
when this information failed to reach
HIM, he came to Kenosha to follow the
clue wherever it lead.
81 could not rest until I had sifted
this clue to the end" explained UNI
berham. "Father had time and again
expressed desire to be buried with
his father in the family burying
ground and if there is any evidcs ce
to show that the man found here was
my father, l will see to it that this
wish Of his will be fulfilled.
Uncovers Two More Mysteries.
When he reached Kenosha, US1ber-
ham found that instead of one mys-
terry he had two to unravel. An inyes-
tigation of the records of the various
morgues of Kenosha showed that be-
tween 1913 and 1915 two unidentified
bodies had been found in Kenosha and
that both of these were now buried
unnamed graves in. this city.
The instance in which he was most
interested and the one which he be-
lieved at first might clear up the mys-
trey of his fathers death, was the
finding of body in the Kenosha har-
Dor on the evening of April 10, 1915,
b. Surfman LaPlant of the life saving
crew.
"A water soaked needle case, a
couple of patent pants buttons, an old
knitted muffler and couple of pieces
of burlap are all the means in the
hands Of officials for identifying the
badly decomposed body of man found
floating in the Kenosha harbor," said
the account Of TIE event carried in the
Kenosha Evening News, for the fol-
lowing day. It continued to say that
the body, half clad in pair of over
alls, might have been in the water
for as long as two years and that
it was so badly rotted away because
of the long time it had been in the
water that nothing could be told re-
garding the age of the man or very
little description of him could be
given. The body, at the direction of
Coroner Millager was taken to the