The Unknown Man Below the Falls

Last week we briefly mentioned the discovery of the body of a man on the side of the bluff overlooking the river, just below the falls, and within but a short distance of one of our main thoroughfares. We visited the scene and viewed the repulsive object. Wedged between the trunks of two trees, with the head under the body, lay the decayed remains of a human being. Nothing could be seen of the body at a short distance but the clenched right hand, protruding above the logs as if appealing to a higher power for aid. The hand was blackened, withered and shrunken, and on closer inspection the body appeared to be in an advanced stage of decay, as though it had lain exposed to the elements for weeks, perhaps for months. The head was downhill, entirely hidden from sight; the body was on its back, and a portion of the stomach was exposed. The shoes were off, and a few feet above, one of them was partially under a rock. The man had on stockings, dark clothes and a white shirt.

Saturday afternoon, after a wait of forty-eight hours, the Coroner arrived and Messrs. Grimmer, Bailey, Rima, Germond, Shoots and Turner were summoned as jurors. One of the trees was cut away, and the mass of remains rolled out. It was impossible, from the condition of the body, to make a thorough examination, and no marks of violence were to be seen, although decomposition would have erased all such marks. There was not a scrap of paper which could lead to the identification of the person; the only articles were a match safe and a piece of a The Dalles newspaper. The features were so entirely obliterated that he could not be recognized. The body was that of a man about five feet eight, some thirty years of age, and had the remnants of a mustache.

The case is a mysterious one, which will never be satisfactorily cleared up, though a few are of the opinion that death resulted from an accident. Perhaps somewhere in the world there are loved ones waiting and hoping for the return of this wanderer, who is sleeping among strangers in an unknown grave. The following verdict was rendered by the jury: “We, the Coroner's jury summoned in the case of the man found dead on the banks of the Spokane River, below the lower falls, after due investigation are unable to identify the body, and find that he came to his death from causes unknown to the Jury.”