STARR, Rush: Died 1906

STARR, FELLOWS, PEACOCK, ELERICK, BROWN

Posted By: Volunteer: Sherri
Date: 8/8/2015 at 07:58:46

RIVER CLAIMS A VICTIM.
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Rush Starr, a Keosauqua Lad of 13, Drowns While Fishing.

About 1 o'clock Thursday afternoon, June 7, 1906, the startling alarm was heard on the streets of Keosauqua, "Boys are drowning up river. Hurry!" "What's that?" was the excited response, and at once a crowd of people, including several anxious mothers and fathers who knew that their boy was, or probably was, fishing or swimming, were making haste, some bare headed, toward the river, and each inquiring of those in reach, whose boy, or boys, was the unlucky victim. Word was soon passed, through the crowd that the one who had gone down was Rush Starr, 13 year old son of Mr. and Mrs. J.P. Starr. No sooner did men reach the water than in they waded, to the place where other boys said the alarming accident happened, 300 or 400 years above the river bridge. There was a good body of water in the river and a swift current, and lest the body of the drowned boy should be carried down the river, a line of men was systemically formed quite a distance below the bridge, the line being held together by each man holding a rope. This line moved slowly up the river until there were probably about 100 men in it, including the anxious, heartbroken father. When it arrived in the vicinity of the accident the water became so deep and the current so strong that the men could proceed no farther. Then a new line was formed farther up the river and began to move down. It had proceeded no great distance when about 8 o'clock, Ex-Clerk of the Court J.K. Matheson's feet came in contact with something, which when raised to the surface proved to be the unfortunate lad.

He was in water neck deep to a man and was tangled up in a trot line which he had been attending. The body was carefully removed to the Dodds undertaking rooms where all was done that could be towards resuscitation. This was in vain, and the body was prepared to be taken home where a grief stricken mother awaited the terrible ordeal of clasping the lifeless body of her only son.

The history of this account is told with some shade of difference by the half dozen boys present, but in the main is as follows: A few hundred yards above the bridge there were a few trot lines, owned and operated by the boys. Rush Starr and Emmet Peacock wanted to have a trot line. In order that this line might be put out securely and in a safe place, in the morning on which the accident occurred J.P. Starr, father of Rush, went up with the boys and after examining the location very carefully assisted in setting the trot line. Just after dinner Rush Starr, Emmet Peacock, Claude Elerick and Otto Brown went up to look after their lines.. When they arrived they found that the line belonging to Starr-Peacock boys had been moved down the river, probably a hundred yards. The boys concluded to bring this line back and moor it in its right place, the Starr boy taking the lead, assisted by the Peacock and Elerick boys. Soon after the Starr boy reached the line and had commenced to wind it on a broom stick to which the end next to the shore was attached, he stepped off of the sand bar into deep water and went under. When he came up the boys called to him to swim, and he replied that he couldn't swim. The yelling of the boys soon brought some larger boys to the rescue, but it was too late. He never came up again until he was pulled up as we have related, the fishing line wrapped around his body and the broom stick still clasped in his arms. This entanglement was no doubt caused by the body being rolled about by the current.

Rush Clark Starr, the eldest of Attorney J.P. Starr and wife's four children, and the only son, was born September 29, 1892, and all his short life was spent in Keosauqua. At the age of six he entered the Keosauqua schools and had advanced through the several grades until he was ready for entrance into the high school when school opens this fall. At an early age he became a member of the Christian Sunday school and with his parents was a regular attendant at the services of the church. He was a promising boy of good disposition and mannerly, and his sad taking off was a great shock to all the boys in town, among whom Rush was a popular companion. Funeral services were held in the Christian church Friday afternoon, in charge of Elder Wheeler, assisted by Rev. Perkins, after which the body was laid to rest in the Fellows cemetery across the river. The parents, almost prostrate with grief, have the sympathy of the whole community.

**Handwritten: ST. LINE DEM. WED. 13 JUNE 1906

Source: Van Buren Co. Genealogical Society Obituary Book E, Page 119, Keosauqua Public Library, Keosauqua, IA