There are dozens of Springdale Cemetery residents who met their death in the Illinois River. Some died in accidents. Some were suicides. But Ruth Harris’s death was one of the most mysterious.
Ruth Harris was only 20 years old in late August of 1916. She was described as being small, with dark hair and eyes and “brunette” complexion. Everyone said she was sweet, gentle and loveable.
She was unmarried and living at home with her parents, Samuel and Lilly Harris, at 1316 N. Monroe Street, according to the newspapers. Street names, and directions, have changed over the years. The address was probably 1316 NE Monroe, about four or five blocks from the Illinois River.
Ruth’s father had previously been a sheet metal worker but, by 1916, he was foreman at the Clarke & Smith Plant. On August 21, 1916, he was in Chicago on company business.
Ruth’s mother was a homemaker. Ruth was a stenographer for Daily & Miller, attorneys-at-law. Ruth’s elder sister, Lilly (Harris) Scanlon, was also living with the family and working as a salesperson in a bakery. There is no mention of Lilly’s husband’s whereabouts.
Around the first of August, Ruth became quite ill and was diagnosed as having typhoid fever. It was not an unusual illness, for the time. Vast numbers have gone to their graves in Springdale due to typhoid fever.
Later, it was determined that she did not have typhoid fever. But, she continued to experience high fevers and more than one physician failed to determine what really was ailing the young woman.
But she was clearly ill. Very ill. She continued to have headache and pains in the back of her neck, in addition to the fever. Her physician claimed that Ruth’s fever had ceased a few days before her death, but she was clearly ill the night she disappeared.
And, in spite of the lack of diagnosis, her mother continued to give her whatever medicines were prescribed for Ruth. At 11 p.m., on August 21, Ruth’s mother went to her room, as usual, and gave her a dose of medicine and then went to bed.
Ruth Disappears
It was hot. It was late August. Most people were asleep, or attempting to sleep, by 1 a.m. But, the Harris’s neighbor, Bert Gilbert, was awake. Gilbert operated a hotel and it was probably not unusual that he was awake and sitting on his front porch at that late hour.
As he was relaxing under the stars, he saw a young woman walking barefoot down the street and wearing nothing but a nightgown.
As the Peoria Star wrote:
“She was screaming but apparently life on Voris Street affords more thrills than that in other part of the city, for Gilbert made no effort to distress, but entered the house without even watching to see what became of her.
“I thought some man had come home drunk and driven his wife out of doors,” explained Gilbert to the much-disgusted officials.”
Ruth’s mother woke about the same time, and discovered that Ruth was gone. She was nowhere to be seen and the front door of their house was standing open.
Hoping For Good Samaritans
Ruth’s family clung to the hope that some kind person found her and took her in. Meanwhile the police were of the opinion that she had wandered to the river and, in delirium, threw herself into the Illinois River to cool her fever.
Bert Gilbert was only the first to fail to rescue Ruth Harris. She ran screaming toward the river and stopped in a Rock Island Railway flagman’s station near where Spring Street ended at the riverfront, probably near what is now the Peoria Boat Club. A railroad switchman, Charles “Red” Keith, claimed to have found her there. But, by then, she was wearing a black coat over her nightgown.
In spite of the heat, Mrs. Harris confirmed that her dark blue cloak was missing from the house. Presumably, that was the overcoat Ruth was seen wearing.
Keith was probably the last person to speak to Ruth Harris. He asked her if she was alright and why she was in that part of the city at such an hour. She said that she lived near there, which was true. Her home was only a few blocks away.
He watched as she walked across the tracks and stood there momentarily. “Red” Keith wasn’t sure what to do about the young girl.
While Bert Gilbert didn’t seem to think it odd that a 20-year-old woman was running around Peoria in her nightgown well after midnight, “Red” Keith did at least think it was more than a little unusual. Not knowing what to do, he reported her presence to the head of the switching crew. But, by the time the two returned to the spot where Keith had seen Ruth Harris, she was gone.
But he was not the last person to see Ruth Harris. William C. Romine, a railroad switch engineer, said that Keith and another switchman, William Miller, shouted to Ruth. She was an unusual site. Romine climbed down from the engine to investigate further. In the dark, all he could see was a person who could have been either male or female. When he was within about 20 feet of her, Ruth ran away.
Apparently she did not stop until she was in the river.
Reward Announced
My morning, Ruth’s father had arrived home from Chicago and a reward of $150 was offered to anyone who could find Ruth—dead or alive. Ruth Harris’s employer, Daily & Miller, offered $50 and the city council offered $50. Apparently, the family offered the remaining $50. Calculating the rate of inflation, $150 in 1916 would be equal to about $3,000 by today’s standards.
Ruth Is Found
After another day of searching, Ruth’s mother was near collapse. Then, some 38 hours later, at about 3:30 p.m. of the second day of the search, Ruth Harris’s body was found near the sewer that emptied into the Illinois River near Spring Street, not far from where “Red” Keith had seen her.
Her body was discovered by two fishermen, Arthur Mackey and Charles Shull, who lived at the foot of Spring Street, near the sewer. The two fishermen were each rewarded $50.
Inquest
The next morning, an inquest was scheduled for 9 a.m. “Red” Keith was supposed to have appeared, but he didn’t. Instead, “Red” Keith changed clothes at his rooming house and vanished, not appearing for work.
The inquest was adjourned until 2 p.m. It is not clear why, but Illinois State Senator John Daily attended the inquest. And, eventually “Red” Keith appeared, claiming he didn’t know he had been summoned.
“Red” Keith probably had nothing to do with Ruth Harris’s death, but his testimony and another action by him were odd. First of all, for the first time, Keith claimed he saw Ruth Harris leave a package in the weeds near the river bank at Spring Street. The police investigated the location, but no package was located.
But, what was really odd, was that Keith claimed the reason he reported to the inquest was to claim the remaining $100 of the reward money, after first going to the police station to demand his reward money, but not before the Desk Sergeant Halpin gave Keith a piece of his mind:
“Let me tell you something,” said the sergeant. “If you’d been one-half a man that poor girl would be alive today. What if she did tell you she lived down on the river bank?” went on the official, his wrath rising as the other tried to justify himself for letting the girl go to her death without an effort to save her. “Anyone with a spark of manhood in him would have known that no girl, whether lived in a palace or a shack or a common brother, was safe down in the railroad yards at 2 o’clock in the morning. And any decent man would have seen her safe with her friends or the authorities before he let her out of his sight. Now you get out of here and don’t you dare to talk about any reward if you don’t want to get something mighty different from a reward.”
The police sent him to the coroner who had summoned him. Keith claimed he didn’t know he had been summoned until he read about his failure to appear, as reported in the newspaper. It is unclear whether Charles “Red” Keith ever received any of the reward money.
Ruth Goes To Her Final Resting Place
Ruth’s parents held the funeral in their home on Monroe Street at 3 o’clock on Aug. 24, 1916, before her burial in Woodland Heights at Springdale Cemetery.
