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| Via Newspapers.com |
This odd case of a man and his apparent doppelganger appeared in the “Vancouver World,” July 21, 1894:
"There is a mystery now of five years standing in the lumber regions of Northern Pennsylvania," said George W. Culp of the Upper Susquehanna Valley, “the clearing up of which would give a great deal of satisfaction to the people in that region. Five years ago John Shehan came to work as a logger in the west branch. He was from Canada--a very giant of a fellow, with a red scar on his left cheek, the result of an accident in the lumber woods of the Dominion, and one eyetooth missing, He was a surly sort of a person and got into frequent disputes with his fellow workers, as well as with his employer. After a very heated dispute with the foreman of his camp one day, the foreman discharged the man and he went away, telling one of the loggers that he was going back to Canada. The next day somе of the men went to town and the postmaster said to one of them,
‘That man Shehan of yours is a little off ain't he? He came in here yesterday and asked if there was any mail for him. There was a letter. I gave it to him. Hе opened the letter and read it, seemed satisfied with its contents and put it in his pocket and walked out. In less than 20 minutes afterward he came in again and asked me if there was any mail for him. I was considerably surprised, and told him I had given him all there was for him.
‘When?’ said he.
‘Why, a few minutes ago,’ I replied.
‘I haven't been in here for a month!’ he exclaimed.
‘In spite of all my efforts to convince him of his error, he insisted that he had not been in the store and had received no letter, and he went out furious.’
“The day after that the men on the creek were collecting the logs as they came down into the boom, when suddenly a driver startled all of his companions by exclaiming, ‘Here's the dead body of a man!’
"In a moment a half dozen men were at the spot and the body was dragged ashore. As it rolled over on its back the men recognized it as that of John Shehan. Subsequent investigation showed that there must have been some ground for the postmaster's belief as to Shehan's sanity, for the letter was found on the body. If there had been any doubt as to the identity of the body, the scar on the cheek and a missing eyetooth would have them all at rest. Some were of the opinion that he had committed suicide, while deranged, but the coroner's verdict was that the drowning was accidental. The men gave the body a decent burial and a letter was sent to Shehan's mother in Canada notifying her of her son's sad death. A week later a letter came from her which contained the incredible information that there had to be a mistake about her son's death. He had arrived home the day before the receipt of the letter announcing his death, and was even then there, alive and well. This letter was followed by another from Shehan himself to a friend in the camp wanting to know what the report of his drowning meant. There wasn't a man in the camp but what would have sworn he had seen John Shehan's body buried, and the grave was even opened to see if the body was still there, and it was. On the strength of this the camp could not be satisfied until someone went to Canada and investigated the alleged living John Shehan there. Shehan's friend, who had known him from a boy, and another man at the camp went to Canada. They returned in a few days and reported that there was no mistake about the man in Canada. He was John Shehan beyond any kind of doubt, alive and in the flesh, as quarrelsome as ever. Then who was John Shehan’s double, whose name must have been John Shehan too, for it was he who inquired for the letter under that name and got it. Neither John Shehan in Canada nor his mother had ever known such a person. The letter the Shehan double took from the post office was intended for the Canada Shehan, as it was identified by him as from bis mother: but the Shehan double must have expected a letter, too, of similar import, for it had seemed to satisfy him when he read it in the post office. Then who was the drowned man? And where did he come from? That was an unsolved mystery then, and it is an unsolved mystery yet.”
