There once was a lighthouse on the western end of North Brother Island, which shone a fixed beam of white light to guide ships through the treacherous waters of the East River.

On the morning of January 3rd, 1884, the lighthouse keeper was watching a flotilla of canal ships sail past the island on their way through the long island sound.

But in the wake of these passing ships, he observed something bobbing up and down in the water. The keeper jumped in a boat and rode to the spot where the object was seen. It was the body of a lifeless woman.

He took the body to shore where he then noticed that the flesh was still warm and that blood flowed from a wound to the head.

A message was sent to officials in Long Island City and the body was taken to the coroner who identified it as that of a 45 year old woman.

Studying the condition of the body, the coroner made an ominous conjecture that this woman may have been victim of foul play.

Newspapers ran with this belief the following day and many New Yorkers on that day first became familiar with the presence of this place called North Brother Island.

A German mechanic named Charles Meyer, living in Manhattan's Yorkfield neighborhood, also took note of this report and hurried to Long Island City.

The unidentified woman was his wife from a report in the New York Times.

The body of a woman found floating in the East River below North Brother Island proved to be that of Miss Matilda Meyer.

For some time passed since the death of a son, she had suffered from melancholia, which was aggravated by the financial troubles of her husband.

Miss Meyer left her home at 6 o'clock on Wednesday morning without telling anyone where she was going.

Her friends think that after leaving her home she wandered down 75th Street to the East River and jumped overboard.

North Brother Island is over three miles from 75th Street.

For the lighthouse keeper, Daniel Kelly, nicknamed lighthouse Dan.

These types of troubling discoveries were unusual but not surprising.

Many months later in August, Kelly pulled another lifeless body from the waters of North Brother Island, a young swimmer who had apparently gone off course and drowned.

Unlike Miss Meyer, this individual would never be identified.

Lighthouse Dan was the custodian of North Brother Island.

He remained the keeper here for almost 20 years, living with his wife grazing cows and sheep.

Far from civilization, there only means of leaving the island a small robot.

But as the crow flies, he was technically only three miles from Central Park.

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