1915-03-20oo

“A badly decomposed body, believed to be that of Frank J. Howard, 22 Rebecca street, was found embedded in the ice in the bay near the Valley Inn bridge yesterday afternoon.”

Hamilton Spectator.    March 20, 1915.

As Bert Kennedy, 232 Macnab street north, along with three friends, was en route by foot from Hamilton to Aldershot, he was shocked with what he saw as the group was crossing the Valley Inn bridge:

“Kennedy’s attention was attracted by the hand which protruded above the ice. With his companions he ran out on the ice and attempted to extricate the body, by jumping on the surface, and in attempting to do so almost lost his own life for the ice broke and he was precipitated into the water.

“Kennedy’s companions pulled him back to safety, but it was found impossible the body, which was firmly frozen in the ice. The young men telephoned into the city and notified the police, Constables Mackie and Berryman responding.

“It was nearly two hours later before the body was taken from the ice. The features were almost totally unrecognizable, but the tattered clothing yielded up two small trunk keys, tied to a tag on which was written : F. J. Howard, 22 Rebecca Street.”¹

¹ “Body of Frank Howard Found Frozen in Ice : Gruesome Discovery Made by Men Near Valley Inn.”

Hamilton Spectator. March 20, 1915.

Back in November, 1914, Frank Howard’s mother notified the police that her son was missing. She told them that Frank had been acting “queerly” for some time. The police instituted a search but no trace of the young man was found.

Finding the tags on the body found the frozen body, the police went to Mrs. Howard to tell her of the find and ask her to come to the morgue:

“She viewed the remains but would not positive identify the body as that of her boy.

“Three friends of Howard viewed the body at the city morgue this morning. They told Inspector Campbell that they would not swear positively that the remains were that of Howard.”¹

The police then took the two small trunk keys to the Howard’s boarding house, and were able to a trunk found in his room with them. Other than the keys, the only things found on the body were a pearl pen-knife and $6.04 in money.

A coroner’s jury was hastily assembled and they were taken to the morgue to view the body.

The coroner’s inquest would not take place until five days later, March 25, 1915.

Among the witnesses were Kennedy and his friends, J. H. Rosenberg, Tom Moore, and Roley Boker, who provided the facts regarding the discovery of the body.

Another witness was Dr. John Locheed, a Hamilton dentist who, five years before, had placed four gold fillings in the teeth of Frank J. Howard:

“Identification of the body was only made possible because of the filling in the teeth.

“Dr. Locheed at the inquest last night swore positively that the body was that of Howard.

“Positive identification was most important because of the fact that Howard carried considerable life insurance and was the owner of property.”²

² “Identified By Gold Fillings : Only Means of Identification of Howard’s Body.”

Hamilton Spectator.    March 26, 1915.

Mrs. Howard was called to testify at the inquest. She could only venture her view that there was absolutely no reason that her son would take his life, and that his business was in good condition. She firmly believed that her son’s death was accidental.

The final witness was Dr. Ward who had conducted the post-mortem examination of the body found in the ice. He said that the body was in such an advanced state of decomposition that it was impossible to definitively identify the cause of death.

The jury returned a verdict which read : “We find that the body found in the bay near the Valley Inn last Sunday was that of Frank J. Howard. We do not know the cause of death.”