Lincoln, John (died 1878)

LINCOLN

Posted By: Anne Hermann (email)
Date: 3/6/2008 at 07:07:21

Miles Reporter, March 16, 1878, re-printed in the Jackson Sentinel, March 21, 1878.

JOHN LINCOLN FOUND-
A dead body was found floating close to the machine shop last Wednesday forenoon. It was fairly preserved, thought it could hardly be identified had it been found naked. The clothing was recognized as that worn by John Lincoln, who has been missing since some time in January. With the clue furnished by the clothing a faint resemblance to the living John Lincoln could be traced by some in the features and hair. Esquire Sugg made a careful examination, and finding no mark of violence done before death decided an inquest unnecessary. The relatives of the missing man, who live in the country, were notified and in the afternoon George Lincoln came and took possession of the body, procured a neat coffin and prepared it for burial. The body had decomposed rapidly after being taken from the water and was unrecognizable when George came but he instantly identified the clothing as belonging to his brother. The slime and ooze covering the clothing and corpse was greasy like the mud below the packing house, which leads to the inference that the body had been caught and held at some point below the packing house, perhaps at the railroad bridge, until it was loosened by the motion of a steamboat or other cause, The body was buried on Thursday. John Lincoln was aged about 30 and unmarried. His father, a brother, and three sisters live in this vicinity, and a brother in Bellevue.