Quasqueton guardian. (Quasqueton, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1856-1858, 1858-07-22
Correspondence Of the Guardian.
1NDEPENDEScE, July IL, 1858.

Correspondence of the Guardian.
1NpEPENDEScE, July IL, 1858.
Mr.. EDIroR
A lamentable accident occurred yes
terday, a few miles from this place, by
which event the lives of four persons
were lost. | will endeavor to give the
particulars, as developed by the coroner's
inquest, held on three of the recovered
bodies, in the afternoon of yesterday, and
as obtained from other sources.
1t seems that a German by the name of
Caspar Wright, his wife and her sister Ga
girl of about eleven years. engaged
Canadian owning a span of horses and
wagon to take them to Fairbank on Wis
it to some friends. They reached Otter
Creek about six O'Clock, Sunday morn
ing, and in attempting to ford it, the box
foated off and the wagon uncoupled,
leaving them to drown in creek only
twenty feet wide and about ten feet deep
One of the four, the Canadian, it is said,
was an excellent swimmer. A part of
the evidence before the coroner's jury,
was, that a Mr.. Dyer, who resides near
the scene of the accident, and who was
milking at the time, had his attention
called by his little girl running :, to him
and exclaiming that there was woman
floating in a wagonbox down the creek.
He ran Immediately along the bank till
he found the wagon-box, but with no
one in it, and still right side up. He
saw the horses struggling to ascend the
bank, and succeeded in extricating them
from their unpleasant predicament, but
didnot see or hear anything whatever of
persons in the water. One of the wit
nesses examined lives about forty rods
this side of Otter Greek. He saw the
party, as they drove by his house, going
toward the creek, but did not think of
their attempting to drive straight through
as it was generally known to be very high
and dangerous to cross. He reached the
creek in less than five minutes after hear
ing the drowning cries, but not in time
to save or see single person of the par
ty.
The bodies of Caspar and his wife and
the girl were all recovered before two
o'clock, p. NJ, yesterday, and were bur-
led to-day. But up to this time, Mon
day evening, the body of the Canadian
has not been found, although the search
has been prosecuted two days, by drag
ging the creek from the mouth up to the
place where the casualty occurred.
1t is somewhat singular that the bodies
should have been foundseo far down the
creek-one of them, that of the girl, be-
ing ished up fifteen rods below where
they got in, and the other two being
found within twenty rods of each other,
fully half mile farther down.
Tho Cans1i;----I - III
heard, was stranger among us, and
leaves a wife and two children to mourn
his sad fate
A bridge has long been needed across
the Otter, on the road to Fairbank, and
would be easy of construction. But the
local inhabitants don't appear disposed to
combine their individual efforts, and APP
propriate a little time and labor on the
part of each, to do it. Philanthropic
travellers are not abundant, and certainly
don't go around benevolently building
country bridges. And, consequently,
we must continue to submit to occasional
baptisings in the Otter, by way of cool
ing our blood and heating our ire ; and,
by and by, when we have the lucky mis-
fortune TO drown ourselves in its insight
icant waters, we will have the satisfac-
ton of letting others see that sufficient
{" time and labor" have been spent in
fishing up our strangled remains, to erect
several bridges across the Otter.
E. c. L.