Death of the Mysterious Frenchman - 1909

Jacques R. Millere

I came across this blog post and became interested enough to do some of my own research to try and figure who Jacques R. Millere who was found dead in the West Coast of Newfoundland actually was. He appeared to be quite eccentric evidenced by the accumulation of materials found on his person and recovered by the authorities.

In March of 1909, Jacques Millere’s body was found near Deer Lake. A young fellow by the name of Frank Penney came across the dead body near a pulp and lumber company (could not find the name of this particular company) in Deer Lake. The police found various materials in the pockets of the corpse including astronomical drawings, sketches of aircraft designs, planet descriptions and a self portrait. The item that was most intriguing is a postal receipt issued to “Jacques R. Millere” from a Postal outlet in Summerside, Prince Edward Island. The receipt was for a registered letter sent to the Duke of Orleans in Paris - Prince Philippe.

Duke of Orleans, Prince Philippe

He was an active yachtsman and made four Arctic voyages. In 1904 he sailed to Svalbard, Norway, Sweden-Norway. He explored parts of the northeastern coast of Greenland, Denmark, in 1905 during his Duke of Orléans Arctic Expedition on ship Belgica. In 1907 he sailed in the Kara Sea north of Siberia, Russia, and in 1909 went even further north into the Arctic Ocean.

Source

I attempted to access more information through the NL Government by putting in an ATIPP Request with the RNC but no information was found.

The discovery of the body and collection of materials caused speculation about who Jacques Millere really was and his connection to the Duke. After an investigation was completed, it was confirmed he was not from the Deer Lake area. There were talks that he could be a scientific genius and others thought he was a royal inventor offering to put his skills at the Duke's service.

Article I located in an March 1909 issue of the Western Star:

FOUND DEAD IN THE WOODS.

Unfortunate End of A Man of Mystery