A first-class petty officer named Hunter was drowned at the Kin-lee-yuan Wharf at 2 o'clock on Saturday morning while trying to board a sampan to return to his ship, the U.S.S. Elcano, with two of his shipmates.
The case was not reported until two hours later when River Police Patnol Sergeant Chegwidden was informed at 4.15 a.m. Upon being shown the place where the unfortunate man fell in, Sergeant Chegwidden, feeling the bottom with a bamboo boat hook, found' the body and hauled it out by hooking the trousers of the deceased.
The body was immediately taken on board the ship and from there it was conveyed to the mortuary.
It was stated that when the body was hauled out of the water, the tide was but 3 feet. Calculating on the time when Hunter is said to have fallen in, the water must have been 5 or 6 feet deep.
"At an inquest held on Sunday be. fore Commissioner Nelson Lurton, acting as Coroner, and a jury of six men in the United States Court for China, evidence was given by the ship's doctor (who identified the body), Dr. W. H. Tenney, Captain T. Mellows of the River Police, and a River Police sampan man who was off duty at the time. A verdict of "Accidentally Drowned" was returned.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.