Ask Help for Identification of Skeleton Found on River Island Near Millersburg Friday
Millersburg police and Dauphin County officials have broadcast a request for help in an effort to identify the skeleton of a man found on an island in the Susquehanna River, opposite the McClellan Narrows south of Millersburg, last Friday evening.
George Alleman of Millersburg was setting traps on the island towards evening when he made the gruesome find. He reported the discovery to Police Officer Stakely of Millersburg, who returned to the island with him. They uncovered all but shoulder blades and part of a vest.
The two men returned to the island Saturday morning with Dr. Harry Walmer who declared the bones to be those of a human being. Continuing the search, the bones of the arms and hands were reclaimed from the silt, about six feet from the bones first found. A coat, partly covered by dirt was also recovered. The skull and other bones of the body could not be found.
The skeleton was removed to the undertaking parlors of J. W. Minier in Millersburg where it will be held until Deputy Coroner Walmer releases them for burial.
Dr. Walmer expressed the belief that the body had been washed down stream during high water and deposited on the island. It is believed that the body had been exposed from three to four years. The island on which the skeleton was found is located near Shore’s Island. It was here that air mail pilot Johnson lost his life when his plane crashed into telephone cables suspended from Berry’s Mountain to Mt. Patrick across the river.
Officials of up-river cities and communities have been notified and have been requested to furnish information of drowned persons.
The opinion has been expressed that the skeleton may be the body of Willis O’Neill, 60, who disappeared in June 1928. Mr. O’Neill resided a short distance east of Millersburg. A storm had felled a tree across the road leading to his farm. The road bordered the banks of the Little Wiconisco Creek which was swollen from heavy rains. Mr. O’Neill desired to remove the tree, and had taken off his coat before he started cutting with an ax. The as and coat were found later, but the man had apparently disappeared without trace.
It is believed he may have been stricken with illness or slipped into the stream and drowned. The fact that a coat was found near the skeleton last week, discounts the belief that the body was that of O’Neill.
On Tuesday, John Wingard, Calvin O’Neill, a son of Willis O’Neill and two other companions went to the island to continue the search. This group was successful in recovering the missing parts of the skeleton.
After an examination, O’Neill expressed the opinion the bones could not have been those of his father. He had based his examination on the formation of the teeth in the jaw, inasmuch as some of his father’s teeth were peculiarly shaped. The bones found Tuesday were found perhaps five yards upstream from those first discovered.
A later theory advanced is that of murder. Because parts of the skeleton were found at different places and the fact that the bones were covered to considerable depth, lends weight to this belief. The island on which the bones were found is protected by another up stream and is seldom strewn by driftwood or filled by ground carried there by high waters. It is therefore thought the person was murdered and the body buried there.
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From the Elizabethville Echo, 28 January 1932, via Newspapers.com.
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