The daily independent., 1937-06-02
Body FiShed From
Chesapeake Bay
Continued from Page One)

Continued from Page One)
fishing boat of Capt. Edward
Smith was trolling slowly south
ward, when suddenly the cap
tan's hook snagged something so
heavy it almost snapped his line.
Wired to Body
Carefully he pulled the heavy
something to the surface. to find
the body of an elderly man -
kenne-- with gaping wound in
the neck and water logged suit
case wired around it.
Capt. Smith gingerly unsnap-
ped the luggage and took from it
these things:
An automobile jack, a hammer,
two can openers and a woman's
pocketbook of tan leather. Inside
the latter was a tin, ten-cent-st
tea-Strainer!
The captain sent his boat put
put-putting at top speed to Smith
Island, where a hastily summoned
corOner'S jury of fishermen rem
dered the verdict of murder. DR..
w. F. Stout said the wound in the
neck might have been made by a
knife; possibly by q bullet. The
body had been so long in the wa
ter he could not tell.
Thrown Overheard
Condition of the lungs proved
cOncluSively that Keene had been
&lain aboard the boat and thrown
into the river by a husky assail-
ant. Was the latter the man who
bought Keene q bottle of beer in
the ships salon shortly before his
death? Or could the murderer
as contents of the suitcase (indi-
Gated have been a Woman?'
Federal officials. and police of
two states and the District of
Columbia scratched their heads.
They could not answer. They could
hardly believe even when con-
fronted with the gruesome evi-
dence- that a murder had occur
red in cabin number 10.
Members of the ships crew.
from the captain to the loWlieSt
cabin boy, testified at a federal in
quiry here soon after Keene'S dis
appearance, that the voyage that
particular night had been unuS-
ually uneventful.
A night watchman said he heard
a sound at about Las a. m, but
that it seemed like a banging
steam radiator. Then came Mrs.
Mary E. Loper. gray-haired house
wife from Norfolk, to swear that
she would tell the truth and moth
ing but the truth.
Heard No Sound
Mrs. Loper had occupied the
cabin next to Keene's and sepa-
rated from it onlj' by a flimsy
wooden wall. She said she remain
ed in her ltateroom all night and
that she was a light sleeper.
Yet" she testified, I heard
nothing, night long. 1 did not
even know that the cabin next to
mine was occupied until I read
about MI. Keene il the newspa-
perS next day.
Despite this teltimony. Keene
must have participated in deS-
perate struggle for his life, must
have attempted to Cry out. Or
could ne have been choked into
uncOnsciouI ness. knitted, lifted by
a veritable giant-either male or
female and stuffed through the
small window, which opened di-
rectly over the water?
Can't Answer Riddle
Authorities had no idea how
Keane could have been killed. They
didn't even attempt TO answer
why. after rclauIeS and business
a sociates testified he was hap
PLY married. earning a good llv-
ing and spending his spare time
and money collecting rare jewels.
There was no explanation OF
the reason for his never-finished
trip aboard the boat. There was
no good gue-s even, as to why he,
a man of dignified bearing. should
for the first time in his life wear
a brown beret and depart without
telling his wife he was leaving.
His disappearance was myster-
ious enough. Discovery of his body,
with the ea-strainer in the wo-
mans pocketbook, turned the case
of the man in the brown beret in
to such an astounding question
mark as to leave detective story
addistG gaSping.