Democratic Sentinel, Volume 1, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 August 1877 — Was This Donaldson ? [ARTICLE]

Was This Donaldson ?

■ A Michigan trapper furnishes what may be a clew to the mysterious fate of Donaldson, the gymnast and aeronaut. He writes to the Chicago Inter- Ocean that while he was looking for trappinggrounds on the south branch of the Big Manistee river, soon after Donaldson disappeared, he found a piece of white ash about five feet long with five canvas ropes, and five feet of line, and “some other kind of goods made fast to that.” Not far off was “ a corpse lying face down, no coat or boots on.” Nearby there was an envelope post-marked “ Detroit, Mich.,” and addressed to some one in Chicago, and there were pencil figures upon it showing the direction of the wind. The trapper supposed at the time that the man had been murdered by the Indians.