RIVERMEN SEARCH FOR WOMAN'S BODY

PICKARD

Posted By: Gloria Dodds (email)
Date: 10/29/2002 at 17:08:51

Thursday, August 15, 1935 The Keosauqua Republican Page Seventy-Nine 80 year Anniversary Edition 1855-1935

RIVERMEN SEARCH FOR WOMAN'S BODY

A large crowd of men were on the bridge over the Des Moines river at Keosauqua Wednesday watching for the body of a unidentified woman reported floating.
The news of the body reached Keosauqua when the sheriff of Wapello county telephoned Sheriff Pickard in Keosauqua that men standing on the river bridge at Eldon had seen the body pass under the bridge there. No one there was in a position to get the body out of the waters which were reaching flood stage.
A report came from the vicinity of Selma that the body of a woman was seen there at two o'clock Wednesday afternoon.
Searchers remained on the bridge here until dark but no sign of the drowned woman was seen.
A report from Leando about five o'clock said that the body had just passed under the bridge there.
A watch was maintained on the bridge in Keosauqua until late in the evening. No clue to the identity had been discovered.
All sorts of drift was observed, everything from cans and bottles to full size trees and brush piles. It was interesting to watch the birds standing on the brush piles. Upon approaching the bridge they would fly before they would go under the bridge. Rivermen here stated that they had been observing this phenomena for years and they have never seen a bird float under the bridge.- Keosauqua Republican June 27, 1935