Drowned While Intoxicated
Barney Milady, and Old Man, Meets Unfortunate End
Barney Milady, an old man who had been employed as watch at Rumble & McCully’s sawmill about 6 miles below the Wallowa Bridge, was found dead last Friday morning in a small ditch about one mile above the mill.
The old man had gone from the mill to the Canyon Hotel on the night of March 8th for supplies and stayed at the hotel that night, leaving early the next morning for the mill with a sack load of supplies thrown across his back, and was seen about 1 o’clock that afternoon about two miles below the fish hatchery by John Fisher and wife. So far as can be ascertained that was the last time he was seen alive, and nothing was known of him until found last Friday morning by John Fisher and others who had started down to the mill for lumber. When within about one mile of the mill Mr. Fisher and friends found the body of the old man lying in a ditch face downward. Fisher immediately went to the Canyon House and notified the company of his death and they in turn notified the coroner of Wallowa county who impaneled a jury and proceeded to the place where the unfortunate victim had been found. After looking over the ground it was decided not to hold an inquest as it was evident that the man had met death by drowning, all circumstances pointing to that fact. Close to the man was an empty whiskey flask and it is thought that the unfortunate had imbibed too freely and had fallen into the ditch in a helpless condition and was unable to get out. The ditch was small and the water was so shallow that a portion of his dead emerged above the surface. The unfortunate had evidently emptied the bottle at that point while on his way to the mill with his supplies and toppled into the ditch in a drunken condition. Although the body had been in the ditch for 13 days it was in an almost perfect state.
The remains were prepared for burial at the Canyon Hotel and conveyed to the Joseph cemetery, where they were interred Sunday, and where he said some time ago that he wanted to be laid to rest.
Barney Milady was born in Ireland and was 81 years and 10 months old. He had been a resident of this country for several years and had been working for the sawmill firm for several months. He was a member of the Catholic church. So far as could be learned he had no relatives in this country and the whereabouts of relatives in Ireland, if he had any, could not be obtained.
Those who knew him say that he was a kind-hearted old man but addicted to the drink habit, which no doubt was responsible for his miserable death.
The Elgin Recorder
Friday, March 27, 1908
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