Bobby Hendricks

HENDRICKS, KLINE

Posted By: Char Hixon (email)
Date: 2/26/2011 at 15:58:00

BOBBY HENDRICKS
Muscatine (Iowa) Journal, probably 1934
Bobby Hendricks Drowns
Body of 10-Year-Old Youth Recovered by Police.

Bobby Hendricks, 10-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Verne Hendricks, 605 East Fifth street, was drowned in the Mississippi river near the wing dam, opposite the Smith ice house, at about 6 p.m. Monday. The body was recovered about 10 p.m. near where the youth had last been seen.

According to a report to police, Bobby, with a group of friends, was swimming in the river. The boys told police they did not miss him until they started home and they noticed his clothing on the bank. They immediately rushed to the police station to give the alarm.
Drag River With Hooks

A force of police officers immediately left the station with hooks, which the city council had provided for the department a year ago for use on such occasions. They added to their dragging equipment with more hooks stored at the Muscatine Power Boat club and set out in boats to drag the river.

After some time, the police officers relinquished their equipment to volunteer workers who continued to drag near the spot where Bobby was last seen. It was about 10p.m. when the hooks caught his bathing suit, in a deep spot near where the boys had been swimming, and he was brought to shore.

The body was taken to the Hoffman Funeral Home, pending investigation by Coroner W. S. Norton and funeral arrangements.
Brother Notifies Police.

Police were notified of the accident by Billy Hendricks, brother of the drowning victim, and Kenny Henderson, a playmate who resides near the Hendricks home.

The drowning was the first of the season here. The boys said after they missed Bobby they hunted along the wing dam at the eastern edge of the city, almost directly opposite the site of lock No. 16 on the Illinois shore.

After failing to find Bobby, they notified Orville Kline, an uncle of the boy, they said, who later went to the police station with them to report the accident.
Water Shallow at Spot.

The water in the river is shallow along the wing dam, which extends a distance of several hundred feet out into the stream and comes well above the surface of the river, now at a low stage because of the drought.

However, several of the boys who were in the swimming party, said there is a swift current beyond the end of the wing dam where the channel of the river is directed. The current there is swift enough to cause even a good swimmer difficulty in keeping abreast of it, the boys admitted. It was their supposition that the boy may have waded out past the shallow portion of the river, been caught in the current and swept under.