Woodworth, Herbert C. abt 1865-1927

WOODWORTH

Posted By: Wilma J. Vande Berg - volunteer (email)
Date: 10/4/2015 at 13:10:35

Hawarden Independent November 24, 1927

TRAGIC ENDING TO LONG SPREE DEAD BODY OF H. C. WOODWORTH FOUND SUNDAY MORNING
Was 62 Years Old and Had Followed His Trade as a Mason in Hawarden for the Past Ten Years
Herbert C. Woodworth, better known in Hawarden as "Blackie" was found dead in his small one-room house on the bank of Dry Creek between 10 and 11 o'clock Sunday morning. According to neighbors he had not been out of the house for about a week though some of them had talked with him as late as Saturday noon at which time he was in bed. Sunday morning these neighbors suspicioned that he must be dead when they failed to get a response from him when they knocked at his door.

They advised Marshal Doctor of their suspicions and, accompanied by a physician, the marshal entered the shack and found his dead body. The body was only partially clothed and was lying with the head and arms on the bed and the limbs stretched out on the floor as though he had fallen forward in an attempt to get into bed. Underneath one arm on the bed was a pint bottle about one fourth full bearing a label with the words "Denatured Alcohol." On a chair in the room were several other empty bottles with the same label, although some of the bottles were unlabeled, and they gave mute testimony as to the cause of his death. Coroner Wm. Duven was notified and came over from Orange City Sunday afternoon and investigated the case. He returned again Monday morning, accompanied by Sheriff Hugo Synhorst, Deputy Harry Dykstra and County Attorney Chas. B. Hoeven, who were interested in possible criminal angles of the case, but after quite a searching inquiry it was decided an inquest would produce no material information and none was held. The body was interred in Grace Hill cemetery Tuesday morning.

According to one of the neighbors Mr. Woodworth was 62 years old on Nov. 16th. He came to Hawarden in July, 1917, and immediately went to work for G.-W. Honeywell at his trade as a mason. He was employed by Mr. Honeywell for about two years and since then has-worked for various contractors and on his own account. He was considered very much of a recluse and had few intimate acquaintances.

For a number of years he occupied a small shack on the south bank of Dry Creek, west of the City Park. In the flood of last year his house and all his possessions were swept away by the torrent and but for heroic work on the part of some of the rescuers he would have perished in the flood. Subsequently the Red Cross built him another small house, near the former location, which he bus since occupied.He was given to periodical and prolonged sprees and evidently became very reckless in the nature of the stimulant which he drank, He was a widower and had two children, a son and a daughter. They were placed in an orphans home when very young and later were adopted by Sioux City people. It is understood that both are now grown and married but efforts on the part of local officers failed to find any trace of their present whereabouts and nothing was found about the personal effects of the deceased to indicate where they might be located. So far as known he had no other relatives.

(According to an ancestry.com report there was a Herbert C. Woodworth born Jun 1866 New York. He had a wife and two sons, no death date given. Only a possibility.)