“Constable Bruce Evans had a gruesome experience Sunday afternoon. A man drove up from the county infirmary to see him and told him that he had seen a body floating down the Ohio river. He was unable to get close enough to get it. Constable Evans immediately got a skiff and started down the river. At Moore’s landing, about four miles below Portsmouth, he saw the body. It then occurred to him that he had forgotten to bring a rope or pole and he could not catch the body. He rowed up to it and started to tow it to shore. The river is swift at that place and he devoted his energy and attention to rowing. He did not notice a pile of drift until it was upon him. The body struck the drift and sank. Evans stayed around for an hour or more but could get no trace of the body. The water is eight to ten feet deep at that place, and he had no way to drag the bottom.”
“He says the body was that of a young man, with smooth face. He wore black trousers and a cheviot shirt and the body was badly swollen and discolored. It had evidently been in the water several days, and Mr. Evans thinks it was the body of a colored man.”1
