, 1922-02-09
REMAINS FOUND
SKELETON OF MAN DROWNED IN The
PLATTE RIVER ON MAY 2lST LAST
LOCATED SEVERAL Miles
Down RIVER RECENTLY

On Friday last Andy Corson. who
has a ranch down the Platte River
about 10 miles from Fort Steele.
notified Coroner Jeffrey thai he had
found TIE skeleton of a man along
The banks of the river.
Sheriff Sanders, accompanied by
Algct Hall as representing Coroner
Jeffrey left Immediately for the Cor
son ranch. They went from here to
Walcott. then north from Walcott TO
the DO ranch and hen down the
river where the remains were found.
They returned to Rawlins with the
body the following day.
There was nothing left of the re-
mains but the skeleton. all the flesh
being gone. The mans clothes were
still on him, however, inc it was by
these that he was identified.
Last summer a man named Wills
was drowned near the old picnic
grounds and his body was never re-
covered. 1t was thought as soon as
the remains were found the other
day that they were of this mar so
Jas II. Hall, Wills companion at the
time of the drowning. was called to
see II he could identify the remains.
Hall Immediately identified the re-
mains as Wills by the clothing and
also from some articles found in the
pockets.
The Republican Of May 20, 1921,
had the following account of the
drowning of The man whose remains
were found recently:
Word was brought to Rawlins Sat-
urday morning last OF the drowning
in the Platte river neal the Picnic
grounds OF a man named J. r. Wills.
The following account Of the ac-
cident which resulted in the mans
drowning was given by Jas. H. Hall,
Wills cOmpaniOn:
For several days Wills and myself
had been engaged in constructing a
raft on which We expected to float
down the river to Casper. From Cas-
per we we're going or to the Big
Horn Basin. We completed the boat
Friday evening and about $50 we
launched 1t as we wanted to try 1t
out Immediately. We expected to
leave at daylight mex morning on
our trip.
We both got into the boat and al
though the river was quite high We
anticipated no trouble in getting
back to shore. However. the boat
started to leak so we Immediately
uCduSu " IL llNCI Dduh. we udO
some paddles with us in the boat and
with these were able to get close to
the bank although the current pre-,
vented us from landing. We were
carried along the bank quite swiftly
by the current. The boat was filling
with water rapidly SO we agreed that
' we would endeavor to reach shore by
grabbing the nex overhanging tree
we passed and abandoning the boat.
Coming to a large tree we both grab
bed it and started to work our way
along the tree to the bank. Wills,
who weighed over 200 pounds was
una BILE to maintain his hold on the
tree. His hands slipped from the
tree and he fell into the water. As
he was going under he grabbed me by
by the legs. I endeavored to work my
way to the bank with Wills holding
to me but my progress was slow. The
current broke Wills hold on me and
/ then reached shore. AS l reached
the bank I looked down the river
and. saw Wills go under for the last
time. l vent along the bank for a
considerable distance looking for him
but failed to see any more OF him. I
then returned to my home in this
city and reported the affair.
J. r. Wills the drowned man. came
to Rawlins about three months e
with a stock shipment. His home is
in LaGrande. Oregon, where he
leaves a mother . Since reaching
Rawlins he has worked at odd Jobs,
working for the city on the streets
for some little time. He had hired
out to Hall to work on the latter's
ranch this summer. He was 4S years
Of age