Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 December 1897 — That Hammond Suicide Story. [ARTICLE]

That Hammond Suicide Story.

C W. Coen returned last night after a thorough investigation of the story of the body of a suicide having been found near Hammond, but over the line in 111., with circumstances which strongly suggested that the body was that of Geo. H. Brown. Mr. Coen went first to the coroner of Cook Co., at Chicago, whom, the account said, the dead man’s effects had been turned over to. He found that the coroner had heard of the story in the Hammond and Indianapolis papers, but had heard nothing of the case from any other source, and that neither the body of such a man nor any property found, had been turned over to him. Mr. Coen then went to Hammond, where the story was first published and tried to trace it down. He traced every report down to the last man almost, and found nothing at last but the vaguest rumors. One man who had told the story he could not find, but another party agreed to see the man and find from him if he really knew of any such case. The people around Hammond, though disposed to credit the story at first are now all convinced that there is no truth in it. It is probable that some wouldbe joker remarked to a companion that he or some one else had found the body of a man, and that the details of the story were fixed up by some irresponsible and dishonest reporter, who wanted to create a sensation and get pay for a long dispatch to some of the daily papers.