F. Dirk Frey (~1821-1897)

FREY

Posted By: Alan Nicholson - volunteer
Date: 5/8/2014 at 23:02:19

Sutherland Courier, 4 June 1897, p. 5 ( O'Brien Co., Iowa)

Died from Exposure
Last Sunday while the Memorial exercises were being held at the M. E. church Dr. Parker was called out and informed that a man had been found dead near Primghar and that his services as coroner were needed. He and D. C. O'Brien drove to Primghar and the doctor went out to the farm of Archibald Shearer. The dead man had been found about eight o'clock in the morning in Mill Creek which crosses the farm.

The man, named F. D. Frey, was 76 years old and lived in Osceola county. He had driven to Sibley on Saturday to attend Memorial exercises and left, going toward home, about noon. It is supposed he became lost and got into the neighborhood west of Primghar in the evening. His horse got off the road, went through a wire fence and finally into Mill creek. As the buggy went into the creek obliquely the horse could not pull it out. It seemed as though Frey had got out of the carriage and pulled the lines out of the terret rings and tried to lead the horse out. The lines were out of the rings and Frey's hat and overcoat were in the carriage. Whether he tried to lead the horse out or not he got alongside the buggy finally and the horse pulled the front wheel onto his right leg just above the ankle and crowded the limb down into the mud and water so deep that he could not get up nor extricate himself. He had struggled desperately but to no purpose. He was within reach of the bank and in his struggles had pulled up all the grass within reach. As it was cold enough to form ice he probably died from cold and exhaustion and the jury so decided. It is possible however that heart disease may have been the immediate cause of death as it was found that he wore a porous plaster on his chest in the region of the heart.

He had $80 in cash in his pocket and certificates of deposit on Sibley banks to the amount of nearly $1,920 more. One of these certificates, however, for $100 was on the bank that failed a year or so ago.

The man was warmly dressed, having on four shirts and two pairs of drawers beside his other clothes. The sheriff was sent for as soon as the body was found and he stayed at the place until Dr. Parker arrived and kept back the crowd that collected, sot that all tracks and marks about the place might not be disturbed. After looking over the surroundings the body was taken to Primghar. It had been previously identified by a Primghar man and word had been sent to his sons who live in Osceola county. Two of them were found who hurried to Primghar. A third son lives in the same neighborhood and a married daughter near Lanark, Ill.

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Sutherland Courier, 11 June 1897, p. 1 (O'Brien Co., Iowa)

In talking with F. D. Frey's sons last Saturday Dr. Parker asked the youngest son if he had ever heard his father complain of heart trouble. The two older sons had said at the inquest that they had not. The youngest son (with whom the father had lived) replied that his father had said that he sometimes felt as though a lot of water were coming up around his heart and it seemed as though his heart were drowning and because of this trouble the old gentleman used a porous plaster on his chest. This confirmed the suspicion the doctor had, and he now thinks that the immediate cause of the old gentleman's death was heart failure. Dr. Parker thinks that if Frey had lived long after getting fastened down by the carriage he would have torn the sod and grass to a much greater extent than he did. If this theory is accepted the dead man's friends may feel relieved from the horrors of imagining that Mr. Frey died a lingering death from cold and exposure.

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Sutherland Courier, 11 June 1897, p. 5 (O'Brien Co., Iowa)

Dr. Parker went to Primghar Saturday to settle as coroner with Dirk Frey who has been appointed administrator of the estate of his father, R. D. Frey, who was found dead near Primghar last week. The three sons and daughter were all present. They had found a will which divided all the property equally among the children. All were contented with the will and expected to settle the estate promptly.

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Paullina Times, 3 Jun 1897, p. 5 (O'Brien Co., Iowa)

Died From Exposure
F. D. Frey of Osceola County Found Dead in Dale Township
Word was received at Primghar last Monday that a man had been found dead in Mill Creek on the farm of Archibald Shearer, on section 4, Dale township. The body was that of a man about 70 or 80 years old, and from papers found on his person, and through identification by two Primghar citizens, it is learned that his name is F. D. Frey, whose home is between Ocheydan and Sibley, in Osceola county. Checks, drafts and money to the amount of $2,000 were found in his pockets. Of this amount about $90 was in cash. The coroner's investigation and some special inquiry indicates that the mane was in Sibley the day before and that he had then in his possession some $7,000 in cash, besides nearly $2,000 in checks and drafts. Working upon this information, the theory has been advanced that the old gentleman was robbed and left in the creek. Another theory regarding his death is that he got lost in the darkness and his horse wandered from the road, as is shown by the tracks over a plowed field, finally going through a wire fence into the pasture. Here the old man gotten out of the buggy. He had also taken the lines out of the saddle of the harness in order to lead the horse and turn the buggy around, and while doing so led the horse into the creek, which is only a mud hole six or eight feed wide, containing about two feet of water and mud. The horse and buggy evidently mired in the mud and in some manner the old man got his foot under one of the front wheels, as when found the wheel was resting on his ankle. This seems to have thrown him on his back, as he was found. His feet were in the water and his body was resting on the mud and grass. The grass on each side of him was torn out by the roots, showing that he struggled hard to regain his feet. The night being intensely cold (ice forming on the water), it is evident that the old man perished from cold and exposure.