Tabor Beacon News
July 5, 1907
Bartlett Farmer Drowns
Robert Pierce, a young farmer living two miles southwest of Bartlett, was drowned while bathing in the Missouri River at noon Sunday. Willie Kimsey, a boy about 10 years old,
who has been making his home with Pierce, was with him at the time of the accident, which occurred while Pierce was sitting in the stern of a rowboat fastened to a tree.
In some way he slipped off into the water, which was about ten feet deep and with a swift current.
He was a poor swimmer and unable to grasp the boat or reach a willow which
leaned over the water near him. When the news was given circulation a large crowd gathered which proceeded to the scene of the accident, but not before a large number of his
neighbors were there. They obtained a fish net and dragged the river for half a mile but failed to find the body. Mr. Pierce leaves a widowed mother. He was a hardworking man
and had a crop of fifty acres of corn. He was well known, having lived in that vicinity for a couple of years.
GLENWOOD, IOWA
JULY 2, 1907
Man Drowned Near Bartlett
Robert Pierce, a young man aged about 25 or 30, was drowned last Sunday in the Missouri river at a point several miles southwest of Bartlett. He was the only son of a widowed
mother and lived near the edge of the river with her. He had been in the habit of bathing in some Shallow back water near his house, but could not swim. This time the water was
deeper that he had expected, the river being high. The water proved to be about 12 feet, deep and he disappeared and was drawn into the main current. The body has not been found as yet.
Source: submitted by: Stephanie Pierce
