Evening star., 1927-04-19
BODY OF HOPPER
|SFOUND IN RIVER;
MISSING Z WEEKS
Former Army Officer Had
Been Sought Since His
Disappearance April 5.
NO MARKS OF VIOLENCE
NOTICED ON DISCOVERY
Inquest to Be Held Shortly-Hat,
Coats and Auto Had Been
Picked Up by Searchers.

The body of Capt Frederick Hopper.
jr., who disappeared from his machine
shop at zoos c street. Tuesday, April
5, was found in the Potomac at the
dam at Great Falls, Md, this after
noon, not far from the spot where
his overcoat and coat neatly folded
had been left on the bank.
The body was found about / O'Clock
this afternoon by C. Z. Sullivan,
tender of the gates to the Washing
ton aqueduct and a special deputy
marshal for that section.
Discovery of the body brings to a
tragic termination a search which
has been prosecuted for the two weeks
that he had been missing by relatives
of the deceased and by members of
the American Legion.
Sullivan brought the body to shore
in boat and left it there while he
notified Montgomery County authori
ties. He identified the body from the
accurate description given by the
searchers. He was unable to deter
mine whether there were any marks
of violence on the body,
Montgomery County authorities,
with Policeman Joseph Oldtield of the
county force, We're moving toward the
customary proceedings early this aft
ernoon An inquest is to be held at
the earliest possible moment to deter
mine. If possible. the cause of death
and the circumstances, surrounding it
whether it was accidental, suicidal
or homicidal.
Capt Kopper's disappearance be-
came alarming to his friends Thurs
day night, April Z, when his automo-
bile, carefully locked, but with
punctured rear tire, was found on
Conduit road. approximately quar-
ter of mile from the Great Falls
terminus of the road.
The following day a searching party
from Costello Post, American Legion,
secured the woods near Great Falls,
without success and bloodhounds
from Occoquan were put on the cold
trail without success.
Coats Believed Missed.
Capt Kopper.s hat, it became known
on the Friday after his disappear
ance, had been located in the front
yard of Robert Jenkins. not far from
the site where the automobile had
been abandoned, and On the following
Sunday searching party found his
coat and oyercoat, mud-stained on the
back as though from fall, on the
banks of the Potomac just above the
point where the water flows into the
gates of the new Washington aque.
duct
The evidence of the yeilowed grass
beneath the coats led to the belief
that the searchers had missed them
on previous days in the vicinity, al
though William F. Franklin, adju
tant of Costello Post, and others
stated that they previously had been
at the very spot where they were
found and yet failed to see them.
Motives for any suicide were dis
counted by members of the family of
Stuart Capen, whose wife is the sister
of the deceased. and who lived with
Capt. Hopper at 4 West Irving street
Chevy Chase Md, at the outset of the
investigation into his disappearance.
On the dav following his disappear
ance Capt. Hopper had been scheduled
to be in New York at the offices of
Davis, Polk. Wardwell Gardner and
Brewster, attorneys; for the settlement
of matters concerning wealthy estate
in which he was interested.
Friends of Capt. Hopper stated
that he had been drinking just prior
to his disappearance, but that he was
able to drive his automobile away
from the shop on the afternoon of.
April s. Edward Rowley, one of the
employees, in another automobile, fol
lowed him to the w. Fl. & f. car barns
at Twenty-second and p streets on
that night, found that he was ap-
parently driving safely. and left him.
Seen Tuesday Night.
The next believed to have been
seen Of Capt. Hopper was during the
heavy rain TUESDAY night shortly
after 10 o'clock when a knock came
to the door of the home of Robert
Jenkins, not far from where the auto
mobile was found, and where the hat
of Capt. Hopper was later found. The
man at the door that night asked for
directions to a telephone.
c. +. Sullivan, jr., son of the man
who found the body today. who was
passing in an automobile over Conduit
road that night, saw Hopper. it is
believed, alone in his automobile on
the roadside near the place the auto
mobile was found, and others in the
neighborhood also reported seeing
single automobile, later identified as
the Hopper car, in the vicinity.
All agreed upon the statement that
the man at the wheel of the automo-
bile was unaccompanied.
During the period of the search, be-
lief that Capt. Hopper might still be
alive was founded upon a statement
by l.. NJ. Gawler of Wheaton, Md, q
friend of the missing man, that he
had seen him in his automobile and
talked to him at Connecticut avenue
and Tilden street Thursday, April z.
two days after his disappearance. 1t
also was reported on the Saturday
night following, April 8, that man
answering Kopper's description had
been in, restaurant in Temporary
Building No. l, at Eighteenth and d
streets.
Both these reports encouraged
friends and searchers TO the belief
that the missing man was roaming
about mentally deranged. and spurred
on search to North Water Gap, Pa,
! where Capt Hopper had Il Summer
home, and to New York City, where
, he was a frequent visitor. Neither
| place yielded a clue.
! AIR MAIL SETS REc0R0