Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 135, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 June 1910 — Downer’s Death Was Accidental, Says Lake County Coroner. [ARTICLE]

Downer’s Death Was Accidental, Says Lake County Coroner.

That William Downer, who met his death at Shelby Saturday night, was accidentally killed by falling from the hay mow there seems no doubt. The coroner so found and everything seems to point to that cause. Downer was about 55 or 60 years of age and worked about at anything he could get to do. He lived with Jim Doty, the saloonkeeper at Shelby, and frequently slept in Doty’s barn. He in said to have sometimes become intoxicated but he was sober Saturday night according to several who saw him. J. M. Dickey the Shelby real estate dealer, returned Saturday night from a trip to Arkansas, and saw Downer at about Id o’clock and says he was sober at that time. Sunday morning the dead body was found in the barn, directly beneath the mow entrance and upon Investigation it was found that Downer’s neck was broken and that he had a bruised place on one side of his face where it had scraped against the manger when he fell. His watch and a small amount of money was found in his pockets. He was an inoffensive old man and not apt to be a victim of anyone’s enmity. Downer was an old bachelor. His nephew, Hank Downer, of Thayer and his brother Frank, of Edgetown 111., who came over to Shelby after the death, are said to have started the foul play talk, but they returned to their homes and let the county bear the expense of the burial.