Snake Bite Fatal

GOEPFERT, SCHROEDER

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 1/9/2010 at 11:26:23

Maquoketa Community Press, July 27, 1944

Snake Bite Fatal To Small Child

Darla Goepfert, 4 years old, died in Bellevue Hospital Thursday morning.

Darla K. Goepfert, 4 year old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alvin G. Goepfert of north of Bellevue, passed away in Moulton Hospital at 2:45 o’clock Tuesday morning as the result of being bitten by a snake, presumably a rattler, Monday afternoon between four and five o’clock. The child was rushed to the hospital and serum was administered, but to no avail.

The child was attending a party at the home of her grandfather, Rudolph Schroeder, who lives near LaMotte, and was playing with other small children in the yard around some fruit trees. It is reported the grown-ups heard her scream. Rushing to her they noticed the punctures on the child’s leg caused by the reptile’s fangs and hurriedly brought her to the hospital. Her small companions didn’t see the snake but thought a cat had bitten her, but from the pattern made by the fangs, persons knew it was a snake bite. When the child regained consciousness in the hospital and was asked what bit her she replied: “It looked like a stick and was black,” it was reported.
Surviving are her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Alvin G. Goepfert, and one sister about a year old.

Bellevue Herald