Imperial Valley press., 1927-09-06
STEWARDS BODY
RECOVERED FROM
RIVER BOTTO M
Search For More Than a
Week by Workmen Is
Concluded Sunday.

The BODY OF RAYMOND Stewart &,
70, of ltultville has been recovered
from the waters of the Alamo river
and buried in Evergreen cemetry.
NorEmCn nsing a Taterpump loosen
d the body from its cement.like
.aeath the railroad bridge some 200
ioet below the point where the mae
hine Stewart was driving plunged
through the railing of the highway
'pan 4 week ago Sunday. The body
was discovered at 1880 o'clock
Sunday afternoon but it was ?
} clock before workmen succeeded
IN bringing il out of the water.
The body had been in the river
for more than a week and burial was
made Immediately. Rev. q. A.
jackson conducted a service at the
grave in the Evergreen cemetrv and
moreE than 300 persons were in at
tendance as the body was lowered
into the ground.
Stewart is survived by his par
nnts Mr. and Mrs. jesse Stewart
Of Holtville. three brothers and one
sister. The family came to Imperial
Valley about three wears ago, settl-
ing at Hoitviile. Stewart was en-
Tloved By the STANDARD Oil company
and was well known throughout
Ibis vicinity.
The search conducted for the body
OF Stewart stretched out over per
iod Of eight days and the river was
covered 10 points as far north as
Salton Sea. Dynamite was resortcl
to during the first few days but
until Friday no evidence of its pos
ition could be determined. On Fri.
dav workmen began concentrating
their efforts about a sink hole under
the bridge and evidence was dis.
covered to bear out the belief that
! the body was within.
Considerable difficulty was en-
/ countertd in attempting to remove
/ the sand from the hole, the fast
! current carrying more sand in a.
! fast as workmen could remove it
! Numerous temporary guards were
! erected but no success was enter
tained until water pump of high
pressure was loaned the workmel
by the Imperial Irrigation district
Ring Identifies Body
/ With this pump tle wornmen were
able to work their way into the hole
and at 1880 clock Sunday tho
sody was located.
Identity had not been established
then but "a workman holding to the
hand Of the buried man turned and
asked a party:
What KIND of a ring did he
.ccar.'
d" A Knights of Phytias," was the
reply.
The workman withdrew a hand
from the water bringing a ring TO
view. 1t Was Il ''Knights of Pyh-
.as' ring.
With this evidence of identificat-
ion workmen redoubled their efforts
and the body was finally withdrawn
from its grave.in the river bed.
Much credit is due the workmen
for their untiring efforts in the
! search for the body. The search was
nj first conducted under the super,
, vision OF the sheriff's office and
While the county officials continued
TO keep u hand in the work, the con
tinued efforts OF number of citiz-
ems of Holtville finally led to the
i,covery.
The body when withdrawn show
"'l no marks which would uphold the
theory that the man had been killed
in the wreck occurring as the ear
'uhged in the river, Coroner Lemons
SAID this morning 1t is believed
that the wreck caused only slight
injuries but rendered the man un-
conscious to aid himself in the wat
~. An inquest was held this morn
ny.
The jury returned verdict as
follows:
1--WE, the jury, find that Ray
mond Stewart came to his death by
driving Il ear and accidentally
plunging from the highway into the
Alamo river on the roadway be
tween Holtville and FL Centro.'
The jury in returning its verdict
did not specify whether it believed
Stewart had been killed in the ac-