Smith, Clay 190? - 1923

SMITH, TORGENRUD, GULLICKSON

Posted By: Reid R. Johnson (email)
Date: 7/11/2013 at 08:28:02

Postville Herald, Thur., 28 June 1923. Taken from the Dubuque Telegraph Herald of 26 June 1923.

DROWNINGS AT DECORAH. Two Boys And A Man Are Drowned In The Upper Iowa River Last Sunday.- All Bodies Are Recovered.

A pall of deepest gloom was cast over the city of Decorah last Sunday by the tragic death from drowning of three persons in the Upper Iowa River, the facts concerning which are related in the following dispatch in the Tuesday morning Dubuque Telegraph Herald:

Decorah, June 25.- The waters of the Upper Iowa river claimed three lives near here Sunday.

Heart failure or heat prostration is believed to have caused the death of Peter Torgenrud, a Decorah auto mechanic, who sank while bathing near the swinging bridge. It was some time before searchers discovered the body. Torgenrud, a veteran of the World War, was gassed overseas. His wife and one child survive. Torgenrud's body was taken to Mabel, Minn., for burial.

Clay Smith, 20 years old, son of a farmer living near here, was another of the victims. His death is believed to have resulted from heart failure, as the water was only about five feet deep. Smith was swimming with a number of other companions. When he disappeared one of his companions, who was swimming up the river, was summoned and he made an effort to locate the young man. Before Smith's body was brought up he had been in the water thirty minutes. Efforts to revive him failed. Burial will be in a local cemetery.

The third victim, Oswald Gullickson of Bode, Iowa, was ten years old. He was swimming with a number of boys who decided to go further up the river. Gullickson preferred to stay and his companions left him. Returning sometime later, they failed to see him and telephoned the home of President Olson of Luther College, with whom Gullickson and his parents were visiting. Learning that he was missing, a search was instituted with the result that Gullickson's lifeless body was found in the water. He will be buried at his boyhood home.

All of the bodies were recovered by 8 o'clock in the evening. Pulmeters were used but with no avail.

The three drownings occurred within the space of two Hours.

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