Drowned in the Flood

The Marietta Semi-Weekly Register, April 1, 1884

A Woman Found in the Drift.  Who Was She, Where Was Her Home?

Many were the terrifying reports of the loss of life when the mad waters were burying our homes and destroying our property.  But fortunately few were the instances of loss of life when the facts became known.

But there comes to us one sad case which, so far, remains a mystery, but it must have occurred during the high water and was therefore more likely accidental than the rash act of some unfortunate victim of despair.  The circumstances of the finding are these:  Last Wednesday a dog, owned by Marion Brown, of Independence, came to his master with the hand of a woman which he found and whose body it had mutilated somewhat, but not badly.  Diligent search was at once instituted among a big pile of drift on the river bank, at the mouth of Leath's Run.  Nearly a day was occupied in the search by Harrison Howell, George Howell, G. H. Holdren and others, when Harrison Howell came upon the remains of the woman hidden by the drift, though the head was visible to the passers by.  Decomposition had set in, the hair from the head was entirely removed and it would have been impossible to determine her age or general appearance.

She was dressed in a black calico dress with white spots in the form of a checker board.  She had on a cross-barred, black and red flannel skirt, drawers, fastened at the back with a white button, brown woolen stockings and fine button shoes.  She wore a corset.  Some taste in dress was indicated by the corset and shoes.  Her teeth were sound and even with only one gone.

R. W. Bedillion summoned a jury and it was decided that she came to her death by drowning.  Her remains were decently buried near where found, and the mystery of who she was or where from, remains unsolved.