BODY OF JAMES BAKER FOUND IN NEW RESERVOIR
Inmate of County Home Who Left Institution on Sunday or Monday Fell into Empty Reservoir Unable to Get Out He Died From Exposure.
James Baker, a state pauper, 78 years old. who had been an inmate of the County Home, off and on for three years past, was found dead in the new Rome waterworks reservoir near Stokes, late Wednesday afternoon There was no water ln the reservoir except a small quantity at the lower end and Baker lay on his side at the bottom of the big basin, near the middle. The body was found by Henry Odell, who lives in Stokes. Mr. Odell thinks he saw the same man walking along the highway in that vicinity at about dusk on Tuesday evening.
Baker died from exposure and exhaustion. It is supposed that he accidentally fell into the empty reservoir and was unable to get out. The intake is the only place were [where] a person could climb out, except with great effort. As the smooth, sloping sides of the reservoir were coated with ice, it would have been impossible for a man 78 years old to climb to the surface of the ground unless he found the intake and even then it would be difficult. Baker was thinly clad, but only his hand and the side of his face next to the ground were frozen.
Bruises on his hands and one leg indicated that he fell into the reservoir. Presumably he wandered around in search of an exit until exhausted, and then lay down to die. There are no houses very near the reservoir.
There was nothing on the man's body to identify him, arid his identity was not positively fixed until A. W. Craig, a keeper at the County Home, viewed the body at the undertaking establishment of the F. M. Orton Company. Baker, who had no permanent place or abode, nor any relatives as far as known, left the home on Sunday or early Monday. He acted in an eccentric manner at times and was in the habit of going away from the institution without giving notice of his intended departure.
Coroner Hubbard will hold an inquest.
THE ROME DAILY SENTINEL, THURSDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 9, 1909 PAGE TWO
Fultonhistory.com: THE ROME DAILY SENTINEL 1909 - 2359
Inmate of County Home Who Left Institution on Sunday or Monday Fell into Empty Reservoir Unable to Get Out He Died From Exposure.
James Baker, a state pauper, 78 years old. who had been an inmate of the County Home, off and on for three years past, was found dead in the new Rome waterworks reservoir near Stokes, late Wednesday afternoon There was no water ln the reservoir except a small quantity at the lower end and Baker lay on his side at the bottom of the big basin, near the middle. The body was found by Henry Odell, who lives in Stokes. Mr. Odell thinks he saw the same man walking along the highway in that vicinity at about dusk on Tuesday evening.
Baker died from exposure and exhaustion. It is supposed that he accidentally fell into the empty reservoir and was unable to get out. The intake is the only place were [where] a person could climb out, except with great effort. As the smooth, sloping sides of the reservoir were coated with ice, it would have been impossible for a man 78 years old to climb to the surface of the ground unless he found the intake and even then it would be difficult. Baker was thinly clad, but only his hand and the side of his face next to the ground were frozen.
Bruises on his hands and one leg indicated that he fell into the reservoir. Presumably he wandered around in search of an exit until exhausted, and then lay down to die. There are no houses very near the reservoir.
There was nothing on the man's body to identify him, arid his identity was not positively fixed until A. W. Craig, a keeper at the County Home, viewed the body at the undertaking establishment of the F. M. Orton Company. Baker, who had no permanent place or abode, nor any relatives as far as known, left the home on Sunday or early Monday. He acted in an eccentric manner at times and was in the habit of going away from the institution without giving notice of his intended departure.
Coroner Hubbard will hold an inquest.
THE ROME DAILY SENTINEL, THURSDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 9, 1909 PAGE TWO
Fultonhistory.com: THE ROME DAILY SENTINEL 1909 - 2359
BODY OF JAMES BAKER FOUND IN NEW RESERVOIR
Inmate of County Home Who Left Institution on Sunday or Monday Fell into Empty Reservoir Unable to Get Out He Died From Exposure.
James Baker, a state pauper, 78 years old. who had been an inmate of the County Home, off and on for three years past, was found dead in the new Rome waterworks reservoir near Stokes, late Wednesday afternoon There was no water ln the reservoir except a small quantity at the lower end and Baker lay on his side at the bottom of the big basin, near the middle. The body was found by Henry Odell, who lives in Stokes. Mr. Odell thinks he saw the same man walking along the highway in that vicinity at about dusk on Tuesday evening.
Baker died from exposure and exhaustion. It is supposed that he accidentally fell into the empty reservoir and was unable to get out. The intake is the only place were [where] a person could climb out, except with great effort. As the smooth, sloping sides of the reservoir were coated with ice, it would have been impossible for a man 78 years old to climb to the surface of the ground unless he found the intake and even then it would be difficult. Baker was thinly clad, but only his hand and the side of his face next to the ground were frozen.
Bruises on his hands and one leg indicated that he fell into the reservoir. Presumably he wandered around in search of an exit until exhausted, and then lay down to die. There are no houses very near the reservoir.
There was nothing on the man's body to identify him, arid his identity was not positively fixed until A. W. Craig, a keeper at the County Home, viewed the body at the undertaking establishment of the F. M. Orton Company. Baker, who had no permanent place or abode, nor any relatives as far as known, left the home on Sunday or early Monday. He acted in an eccentric manner at times and was in the habit of going away from the institution without giving notice of his intended departure.
Coroner Hubbard will hold an inquest.
THE ROME DAILY SENTINEL, THURSDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 9, 1909 PAGE TWO
Fultonhistory.com: THE ROME DAILY SENTINEL 1909 - 2359
Inmate of County Home Who Left Institution on Sunday or Monday Fell into Empty Reservoir Unable to Get Out He Died From Exposure.
James Baker, a state pauper, 78 years old. who had been an inmate of the County Home, off and on for three years past, was found dead in the new Rome waterworks reservoir near Stokes, late Wednesday afternoon There was no water ln the reservoir except a small quantity at the lower end and Baker lay on his side at the bottom of the big basin, near the middle. The body was found by Henry Odell, who lives in Stokes. Mr. Odell thinks he saw the same man walking along the highway in that vicinity at about dusk on Tuesday evening.
Baker died from exposure and exhaustion. It is supposed that he accidentally fell into the empty reservoir and was unable to get out. The intake is the only place were [where] a person could climb out, except with great effort. As the smooth, sloping sides of the reservoir were coated with ice, it would have been impossible for a man 78 years old to climb to the surface of the ground unless he found the intake and even then it would be difficult. Baker was thinly clad, but only his hand and the side of his face next to the ground were frozen.
Bruises on his hands and one leg indicated that he fell into the reservoir. Presumably he wandered around in search of an exit until exhausted, and then lay down to die. There are no houses very near the reservoir.
There was nothing on the man's body to identify him, arid his identity was not positively fixed until A. W. Craig, a keeper at the County Home, viewed the body at the undertaking establishment of the F. M. Orton Company. Baker, who had no permanent place or abode, nor any relatives as far as known, left the home on Sunday or early Monday. He acted in an eccentric manner at times and was in the habit of going away from the institution without giving notice of his intended departure.
Coroner Hubbard will hold an inquest.
THE ROME DAILY SENTINEL, THURSDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 9, 1909 PAGE TWO
Fultonhistory.com: THE ROME DAILY SENTINEL 1909 - 2359
Gravesite Details
interred Dec 10, 1909
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