OBITUARY:
RIVER YEILDS BODY OF UNKNOWN
FIND CORPSE ON BAR NEAR HALLS FERRY
Unidentified Man, Edidently Dead for Six Weeks in River
Find Made in Search for Armenian Who Drowned Last Sunday
Lodged on a sandbar in the Willamette river about eight miles above Salem at a point of what is known as Bud shute or the head of the Halls Ferry island, the blackened body of an unidentified man was discovered about 11 o'clock Saturday morning by Walter B. Gerth, Polk county deputy sheriff, and Bert Smith, Marion county deputy sheriff, while searching for the body of George Apoion, 36, Armenian drowned just above Halls Ferry last Sunday afternoon. Dale Taylor, deputy coroner, estimated from the condition of the body that it had been in the river and exposed to the sun for at least six weeks. Identification will be impossible.
When found the body was lying in ankle deep water on the bar, flat on its back with the knees in the air. With the exception of a pair of tan oxfords and socks, minus garters, the body was naked. It was impossible to determin the age due to the sediment that covered the head and portion of the body. Inspection of the the river bank did not reveal whther the hair had fallen off the head or the man had abeen parially bald. The body was apparently that of a well-built man, possibly around 175 pounds, and around five feet eight in height.
The Armenian when drowned was clad in a light colored shirt, of some shade of cream or light tan, and was wearing shoes with no socks. It is believed that he also had on overalls. It was believed by the officers that the body could not have been in the condition it was from only six days' exposure in the river, particularly as it would not have risen to the surface for several days.
Neither Sheriff T. B. Hooker, of Polk county, nor the chief of police at Independence has received any reports of a missing or drowned person.
Daily Capital Journal 25 Jul 1931, pp 1 & 9
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