Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 58, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 October 1914 — A Kankakee Mystery. [ARTICLE]

A Kankakee Mystery.

1 George Burgess and Henry Burdick returned from a fishing tour on < the Kankakee, a few days ago, and! thereby hangs a tale. George says | there is a mystery hanging o,er one j spot on the Kankakee that is agita- j ting the natives and is a puzzler to the river sleuths. More than two weeks ago an elegant new boat was found partly drawn up on the river l hank at an isolated place: farther up the hank was found' pipe, tobacco and other articles indicative of a person of leisure and means. In the boat was a good Bristol shell fishing rod with take-apart reel, a bread knife with a half loaf of bread, and a spirit lamp, one oar was broken and the other in place Near the edge of the river close to the boat were tracks pointing away from the river, and a short distance away lay two empty gun shells. At the point near the boat the bank slopes down to the water, which is about twelve feet deep, and the river current has cut 'under the bank, making it a dengerous place to drop into. A short distance below this point there is a strong current and heavy drift, and this gives grounds for the fear that the unkpown, when jumping from the boat, fell into the river and that h>s body has lodged in the pile of drift, probably carried beneath it. When Mr. Burgess left steps w r ere being taken to unravel the mystery if possible. It does not lo'ok at all reasonable that a man would voluntarily walk off and leave such valuable possessions. The boat was of the Green Bay pattern and comparatively new, and the oldest resident along the river knew of no such boat. But if the affair remains unsolved it will only add another to the list of mysteries that the old Kankakee might unravel had it the power to do so. —Goodland Saturday Times.