A Judge Vanishes, Then a Body Surfaces in the Columbia
Weeks after Judge Kinnaird disappeared, a dispatch from Wilbur reported a body in the river—and a description that seemed to match.
Spokane, June 5.—A dispatch from Wilbur reports the finding of a body in the Columbia river near there which is believed here to be that of the late Judge Kinnaird, who disappeared several weeks ago. The description tallies closely with that of Kinnaird. The Spokesman will send a representative out tomorrow to investigate.
“A dispatch from Wilbur reports the finding of a body in the Columbia river near there which is believed here to be that of the late Judge Kinnaird.”
A body in the Columbia and a weeks-long disappearance made a local judge’s fate a public mystery in an era before forensic DNA or statewide missing-person networks. The item is a reminder that some of the archive’s most haunting stories end with a newspaper promising to send someone out to investigate.
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