The afternoon of January 3, 1896 started out like any other morning. Mrs. Irwin Deibert and her five-year-old son Walter went for a walk along the water near Mr. Deibertâs place of business, Deibert & Brothers Dry Dock. Deibert & Brothers was located near the mouth of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal on Back Creek in Chesapeake City. Young Walter looked down at the waterâs edge and saw the body of a man, lying face down, in about two feet of water. He alerted his mother, and they went for help.
Authorities discovered that it was the body of Captain Thomas Camp, a well-known man along the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal from Goshen, New Jersey. The captain had been in Chesapeake City for ten days, waiting for repairs to his schooner, the Manaway. He had been sleeping on board his boat at night alone. Captain Campâs skull had been crushed and his body was found with his hands in the pockets of his overcoat. He had last been seen alive on the previous evening around 5 oâ