Wagner, Donald 1889 – 1909

WAGNER

Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 8/27/2019 at 11:59:06

Source: Twice-A-Week Plain Dealer May 28, 1909, 2, C6

Don Wagner Victim of Accident in Des Moines River.
Don Wagner, aged twenty, son of Superintendent J. A. Wagner of the Des Moines Union railway of Des Moines, was drowned when a canoe capsized in which he and Miss Dorothy Vorse were sitting.
Miss Vorse had a narrow escape from death, but she clung to the capsized canoe and floated down the river until fishermen swam to her and towed the canoe ashore.
Young Wagner was captain of the West Des Moines High School football team last year and was captaln of the freshmen eleven at the State university and one of the most promising young athletes in the state.
In company with Miss Vorse, Miss Knott, daughter of Thomas Knott, insurance agent, and Henry Cheshire, son of former State Senator Thomas A. Cheshire, he had been canoeing on the river. They went ashore to get a drink. Miss Knott stepped from the canoe first and as Cheshire got ashore a canoe was pushed into the stream and soon capsized. Young Wagner could swim but little, but he tried to get to Miss Vorse, who was hanging to the canoe and screaming wildly, to aid her. In so doing he lost hold of the canoe and went down. He rose three times, but soon sank before aid could come. The body was recovered.

Transcriber’s Note: Find a Grave shows he is buried in Woodland Cemetery and was born March 18, 1889 and died May 22, 1909