David told me that he had found a barrel in the dam[?]. I examined & found that it was a barrel but was unable to see[?] in and on account of its weight. I procured the help of Wm Reynolds [??] & Mr. Esley Hudson and got the barrel out and found that the middle piece of the head was out. The others seemed to have been put in carefully & the hoops fastened. We found that the barrel contained a body and I immediate reported it to Wm E. Earle magistrate. The barrel remained there until a little after sunrise and on examining it again I found a large & very sharp butcher knife lying beside it on the ground covered with rust and [?] which I suppose to have fallen from the barrel on opening it. The examination of the body since the [??] bled. I found that one foot has been cut off at the ankle joint and that the body has on a [?] and night gown which seemed to be made very neatly and having some needle work upon it. I notice that the heads[?] of the barrel on the outside are bleached. The barrel had rocks in it apparently to sink it.

I suppose from the appearance of the body that deceased was about eighteen years old and that it has been dead between two & three weeks.