“Pening the arrival or relatives, funeral arrangements for the late George M Warder, 76, were being held in abeyance Wednesday. His lifeless body was found about a mile from the County Infirmary late Tuesday afternoon. He had been missing from the county institution since Sunday. The last rites for Mr. Warder, who for years was engaged in business in various sections of Portsmouth will be arranged by his nephew JT Warder, a steelworker who resides in New Boston and a brother. JT Warder who was expected to reach Portsmouth late today from his home in Epworth, Lewis county, Kentucky.”
“It is believed that Mr. Warder had been dead since Monday afternoon. His body was found in a ravine known as the County Hollow back of the County Poor Farm and west of Carey’s Run. Coroner Virgil Fowler was notified and is investigating all phases of Mr. Warder’s death.”
“
Discover Body
“Yesterday afternoon, shortly after three-thirty, Donald Noel, son of Samuel Noel of Carey’s Run, and Joseph Hornikel, son of William Hornikel, also of Carey’s Run, two school-boys, strolling through the ravine where extensive logging operations have been going on recently, chanced upon the body. Mr. Warder had fallen backward into the bed of a little run which comes dashing out of the hills, feeding into Carey’s Run, below.”
“The two boys notified Superintendent GC Johnson of the Infirmary, and he, with Coroner Fowler, Dr. Smith, and newspapermen, went to the scene.”
“Leaving Carey’s Run road at the saw-mill, a short distance from the Atlantic and Pacific Highway, the official party followed a logging trail through the woods for nearly a mile, coming finally, to the spot where the body lay, stretched out in the water.”
“Marks on the body, the position of clothing on the bank, and the position of the body in the water were silent chroniclers, telling the coroner and his assistants the story of an aged man’s final tragedy.”
“The body was fully clothes, with the exception of one shoe and one stocking. On the bank were Mr. Warder’s hat and his handkerchief. The exposed foot and leg was marked by a bruise from a fall which had occurred on Saturday.”
“The officials believe that Mr. Warder, after wandering all of Sunday night, and probably well into Monday afternoon, sat down on the bank of the creek -probably, because of his weakened mental and physical condition, unable to proceed. There, he decided to bathe his bruised foot, and accordingly took off one shoe and stocking, and as he stepped into the water, suffered a heart attack which killed him. The body, then, fell over into the water.”
“Marks on the bed of the little run indicated that the body had not moved after it fell into the water. An examination of the body disclosed that there was no water in the lungs, disproving any theory of drowning which may have been entertained.”
Once Owned Hotel
“Mr. Warder once owned the Arlington Hotel, now the Commercial Hotel, on Second street, just below Market, and he was considered a man of means. At other times in his business career in Scioto county, which extended over a period of thirty-five years, he had operated stores in the West End, in New Boston, and in Harrisonville, Madison township.”
“Reverses came, and finally poverty. Not long since, Mr. Warder had signed his life insurance policy over to a creditor, to provide payment for an account.”
“With financial reverses came ill health and mental trouble. For a time, Mr. Warder was in the Athens hospital, and he had been an inmate of the infirmary, off and on, for several years.”
“It was stated today that Mr. Warder has a sister living near Zephry Hill, Florida, and a daughter1, who years ago married a Vanceburg ME minister2. She is now believed to be living in Nebraska. Warder also has six brothers in the West, several being located in Oklahoma. An effort is being made to get in touch with some of them.”3
Warder Rites to Be Held Saturday
“Last rites for the late George M. Warder, whose dead body was found near the county infirmary recently will be conducted from the Emrick Funeral Home, Gallia street at 9:30 AM Saturday. Interment will follow in Greenlawn.”
“Mr. Warder formerly was a well-known businessman in this city.”4
Ohio Certificate of Death for George Moss Warder5
- Lucy Etta Warder McKellup
- Alfred Harrison McKellup
- Believe Warder’s Death Was Caused By Heart Attack; Body Is Found Back of the Infirmary. (1926, September 8). Portsmouth Daily Times, p. 3.
- Warder Rites To Be Held Saturday. (1926, September 10). Portsmouth Daily Times, p. 2.
- “Ohio Deaths, 1908-1953,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9PJ1-9PDP?cc=1307272&wc=MD9F-Z66%3A287601201%2C294642701 : 21 May 2014), 1926 > 56541-59750 > image 1944 of 3578.
