The Mysterious Burial on South O Street

Tacoma police and Coroner Shaver are investigating the circumstances leading to the death, or more probably, the murder, of an infant and its mysterious burial in a vacant lot some distance from the residence of J. N. Peterson, 1621 South O Street, Monday afternoon. The body was subsequently exhumed by city detectives. The child was buried by a well-dressed young man who claimed he had authority from the doctors of St. Joseph's Hospital. E. Eedal, who was present when the young man buried the child, says that on Monday afternoon, while he was grading the lots in the rear of Mr. Peterson's property, the young man—appearing to be no more than 21—rode up Seventeenth Street on a bicycle. He carried a bundle and asked Eedal to dig a hole, claiming it was a dead infant from the hospital. Eedal refused, so the stranger dug the shallow hole himself, covered the body with a newspaper, and fled. St. Joseph's doctors have denied any knowledge of the case, and police are investigating the burial as a potential crime, as there were no marks of violence and the child was found dressed in dainty clothing.