DEAD UNDER A DORY.
Further Particulars
About the East Braintree Mystery —
Was Michael Ahern's Death Accidental or Otherwise? |
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| A paragraph appeared in Saturday's GLOBE
announcing the finding of the body of Michael Ahern on the banks of the Monatiquot river, East
Braintree, a small dory lying across him. Further investigation shows that the body was discovered by
Clarence Williams of Weymouth of Weymouth, who was passing in company with another man. The
peculiar position in which the boat was placed arrested his attention. He then proceeded thither, when he
discovered this body lying underneath, face downward, arms extended, head toward the bank and feet
toward the water. Ahearn [sic] was forty-one years of age, unmarried, and boarded with his brother-in-law,
George Bennett, near the old North Church. He left there Wednesday night with some friends with the
intention of going to the walking match, and was seen there during the evening. He spent the night at the
house of a friend named Fred Doherty, living near his boarding place. About 10 o'clock Thursday morning
he left Mr. Doherety's for the purpose of going to Boston, taking the cars at Weymouth station. He returned
on the train, leaving Boston at 7 o'clock in the evening, and was met at Braintree by a friend who walked
with him to Washington Square at Weymouth Landing, who represents that Ahearn was somewhat under
the influence of liquor. Ahearn called at the Narragansett House between 9 and 10 o'clock, when he
represented that he had secured a job at Cohasset for the season, if things proved favorable. He was
seen soon after by Officer Pease, the night watchman, who called him intoxicated. |
| Heading Towards East Braintree. |
No further trace of him alive can be found. It has been currently reported
that his visit to Boston was for the purpose of drawing money from the bank, but upon inquiry his bank books
are found to be all right in his trunk, although about $50. which he was known to have in ready cash, is
missing. When found there was only sixty cents in his pockets.
Mr. Williams went and called Mr. Whitmarsh, who lives near by, and he immediately
sent for Deputy Sheriff White, who took charge of the body and placed it in care of Undertakers Ford and
McCormick, who removed it to their place of business. Medical Examiner C. C. Tower was at once notified,
and upon examination of the body found a livid discoloration in the inner side of the upper lip, also a
tumefaction of the central part of the forehead and fleshy part of the nose; over the right eyebrow was a
deep bruise, the mark extending about two inches obliquely upwards toward the scalp, and at one point a
breakage of the skin, but no evidence of the fracture of the nose underneath was discovered. In the palms
of the hands, in the nostrils and in the hair and beard there was some dock mud. After this examination and
what investigation has thus far been made the conclusion arrived at by the medical examiner, is that the
immediate cause of death and that without further evidence he did not feel justified in performing an
autopsy. |
| Many Do Not Feel Satisfied |
| with this result, notwithstanding the conclusion reached by the medical examiner, feeling that the
severe bruises about the head and face indicated the possibility, as well as a strong probability, that Ahearn
met his death from other causes; some fearing that foul play may have been the primary cause of death.
They feel that in falling he could not have struck hard enough to have caused those bruises. Another reason
given is that there being a heavy sea and strong northeast wind at the time he is supposed to have fallen,
would have carried the body further south and landed it upon the opposite side of the river, and that the body ,
if thrown up then by the heavy sea, would have been twisted about instead of lying straight and prone, as
found. The most probable solution of the mystery is that being in an intoxicated condition he wandered away
down by the river bank and fell at low water, so that when the tide came up it washed over him, causing his
death, and the boat, breaking from its moorings, was washed into the position as found. Many in the
community think that a searching investigation into the matter should be made, so that the real truth
of the affair may be discovered, if possible. |
| — The Boston Globe 20 April 1879 |
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