Samuel, We Hardly Knew Ye. In Fact, We Knew Ye Not At All.

Last night I was closing up shop to go to bed. The podcast was in the can, and Stennie and I had had our "hanging around" time afterwards to chat some more and play games. (Games last night? Freecell for me, Mahjong, Freecell, and Solitaire for Stennie. She was all over the place.)

Anyway, we'd said our goodbyes and I was closing out windows and unhooking the little heater under my desk, and I got a boing from Mr M. We too had said our goodbyes earlier, but here he was messaging me. His message was a link. I followed it just to see what it was, but when I read the headline I stayed there in my closed-up shop and continued.

Here was the story.

On October 1st I wrote a blog about something that was of keen interest to me, something I just couldn't understand, well, why it wasn't of keen interest to everyone.

Back during the first weekend of Oktoberfest, while I was right up there on the mountain at Mountain Lake, or Mountain Lakeless as it is now, a man and his son were walking around the mud that used to be Mountain Lake and they found something. They found a human skeleton. Surrounding the skeleton were items that appeared to be personal items: clothing, a belt buckle, a cigarette lighter, a shoe, and a class ring. Authorities were dispatched, and it became clear that here was a man, well, an ex-man, a long passed man, who'd been lying around under Mountain Lake for possibly 50 years. And would still be lying around had the lake not mysteriously disappeared this year.

At the time I wrote the blog, the news story was definitely back-page stuff. There may have been a passing interest by local residents - "Hey, they found a man in the lake" - but that was about it, and I was confused and a little peeved that everyone everywhere wasn't just chomping at the bit to find out all about Mr Man Who Went Up A Mountain And Never Came Down.

According to this story linked to me by Mr M, I seemed to not be alone in my yearning for answers. And may I just say, "Thank you, Jim and John Dalmas."

Yes, the Dalmas brothers were as interested as I was, and, unlike me, had the gumption to get off their butts and do something about it. And they started piecing together clues as to Mr MWWUAMANCD.

For those of you who didn't follow the above link, which interested me greatly, but you know, I'm me, the Giles County Sheriff's office started with the class ring. It was a Clemson ring, class of 1904. They got a roster of 1904's graduating class.

Now, the initials on the belt buckle and cigarette case were S.F. And the Dalmas brothers started to research. There were three members of Clemson's Class of '04 with the initials S.F. One of those was a man named Samuel Ira Felder.

In going through Census records, the Dalmas fellows found mention of Felder and his wife, Catherine, in 1920. In 1930 Census records, there was Catherine Felder, widow.

Then, while searching for relatives of Felder, John Dalmas found this little nugget. A South Carolina newspaper article from 1927 about one S.I. Felder, who was boating with his family and fell into a lake. And drowned.

After finding that article, July 27, 1927, the brothers Dalmas headed local, and found an article from the Roanoke (VA) Times headlined, "Mountain Lake Holds Body In Its Grasp." The story was about Samuel I Felder, who was boating on Mountain Lake with his family, fell overboard, and whose body was not recovered.

According to the Roanoke article, Felder fell from the boat's bow into the lake. "He seemed to choke and struggle for a minute, then was engulfed by moonlit waves." After unsuccessful tries to recover the body, Samuel Felder in 1929 was officially declared dead.

The Sheriff's office is not officially closing the case and putting Felder's name to Mr Man Who Went Up A Mountain And Never Came Down, but the Dalmas brothers are certain they've solved the mystery.

I am too.

And so to you, Samuel "Mr Man Who Went Up A Mountain And Never Came Down" Felder, I say rest in peace. You've been under Mountain Lake for 61 years, and I've thought about you a lot over the last month. I think about you every time I head up the mountain and pass by what used to be the lake. You had nice items surrounding you, a silver cigarette case and belt buckle, your class ring, and a shoe made in New York City. You were a dapper vacationer up there on the mountain in Virginia. Had you been of a different time you might have been up in the barn Oktoberfesting with us.

But you weren't. You were born in 1884. You graduated from Clemson and worked for the telephone company. And judging from your yearbook picture, you were a fine-looking young man.

And quoting that yearbook entry:

"Si" came into existence on May 10, 1884, at Vance, SC. His early education was received at Camden Road Academy. He came to Clemson in September, 1900, to engage in the struggle for a "Sheepskin." He tips the scales at 148 lbs and measures 5 ft, 11 in. He took Electrical Course. The highest military office to which Si aspired was Sgt in the famous old "D" Company of 1903. Was secretary of Calhoun Society, and member of the German Club and Salons de Cercle.

Awww, he was in the German Club. And guess what, I checked Clemson's website. This is a club devoted to German language and culture, and not a part of the same German Club at Virginia Tech who threw the Sauerkraut Band out of their party after they invited us to come and play it.

So that's why I felt such a kinship with you, Mr Felder, even before I knew who you were! I shall hoist a shot for you on the mountain this Friday.

Betland's Olympic Update:
* Acrowinners, we have acrowinners! So, tell me about your political platform.
- Runner-Up goes to Kellie (with an ie), with her plan to keep the citizens happy, "Quick Harmonious Melodies Over Network Earphones."
- And this week's winner is DeepFatFriar, with his "Quality home made operas. No elitism." I'll vote for that. If there's one thing I hate, it's opera elitism.
- Thanks to all who played, you've all done very well!