CAME HOME IN A GUNNYSACK.
Supposed Drowned Boy's Clothing
Taken From the River Bank.
A drowning scare occurred at the Blue river, in Sheffield, yesterday afternoon, when the clothes and a crutch of William Hess, a 12-year old, one-legged boy, who lives near Independence and Ewing avenues, in Sheffield, were found on the bank. The finding of the clothes was reported at the Sheffield police station, and a prompt search for the body was instituted.
For three hours boats plied up and down the river from Nineteenth street to the mouth of the river, and for some distance about where the clothing was found the river was dragged. The search was abandoned about 7:30 o'clock, and the clothing turned over to the boy's mother by a policeman, who broke the news to her.
A half hour later a dejected looking figure, clad in an improvised bathing suit made from an old gunnysack, appeared in the doorway of the Hess home. It was the supposedly drowned boy, who had returned from a row with two other boys up the river, and finding his clothes gone he had hobbled to his home by way of alleys and side streets.
