BOGGS, Ora (1911-1923)

BOGGS

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 5/14/2020 at 10:47:02

Ora Boggs
(1911- June 17, 1923)

Twelve Year Old Boy Drowned In Otter Creek Sunday
Ora Boggs Slips From Bank Into Eight Feet of Water, Body Recovered After Three Hours Work
Ora Boggs, the 12 year old son of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Boggs of Kenwood neighborhood was drowned in Otter Creek about 2:30 o’clock Sunday afternoon while the Boggs and Harry Clevenger families were enjoying a Sunday outing in the Clevenger timber near the creek. This was the first drowning of an Indianola boy in the streams near here for many years. The body was recovered about six o’clock by Sheriff Hartzler and a posse and brought to the Proudfoot and Smith undertaking parlors. After a short service at the parlors Monday evening it was taken to Des moines and sent to Kokomo, Indiana, the old family home where Mr. and Mrs. Boggs have two other children buried, one of them, a son who was killed in an automobile accident. The drowning took place in a deep hole about a half a mile above the Baysinger bridge. Ora, in company with Harry Clevenger Jr. 14 years old, had been bathing and wading in the creek and had been cautioned to keep away from the deep hole. They waded upstream with Ora considerably in the lead. When he came to the deep hole he started around it on the bank, which is here very steep. He slipped and went straight off into 8 feet of water and was found three or four hours later about ten feet from the bank in 20 feet of water. This deep hole is described by Sheriff Hartzler as nearly a hundred feet wide and the same distance in length up and down stream, seeming to be a place scooped out by the water at the soft place in the new channel. Young Clevenger heard the drowning boy yell and saw him go down and come to the surface again. He was not a swimmer, and ran to call help. Mr. Boggs, is an expert swimmer, but by the time he reached the hole the boy had gone down for the last time. With a heavy heart he began diving for the body of his boy, and worked at it until almost completely exhausted, but without success. Sheriff Hartzler was notified and responded with a posse composed of Will L. Hartzler, Dr. P. H. Hester, Winston Husted, Glenn Corbitt, and Jim Butler. Reenforced by Herbert Clevenger and Bruce Ballard they rigged a rope from one side of the stream to the other and with hand ropes sus[pended] from this one down [rest of article missing]. [copied from a scrapbook of newspaper clippings at the Warren County Historical Society Library, Indianola, Iowa]