Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1916-03-15
DEBORAH WINNEsH1EK WEDNESDAY

a little island there. At the time thu
man was facing up stream, but q.
soon as he heard the rasping of the
brush he put out his hands to botn
sides grasping wildly at any thing he
might lay hold of. And he grasped
something with his right hand, won.
derful to relate, it turned out to be
the old Irishman's longhandled
spade. 1t had caught on the bushes
in an upright position, the handle
some distance above water Now
then! He had very good oar to pad
die his craft to land with. And he
landed at the right, near the turn of
the stream, think about block be-
low the bridge. But while this was
going On the poor team was in a bad
fix. 1t did not take them long to
cross over to the left bank. But
while crossing the gearing of the
wagon was twisted over so the
coupling pin dropped out, allowing 3
the hind gear to go spinning down
stream by itself.
The crowd was right eager to help
| the team as soon as they came near
enough. But bad luck would have it
so that right there, some ways down
the bank was perpendicular and {
to feet high and still remaining
above water by foot or so. Hence
| it was a dangerous place to tackle
a pair of horses struggling for their
life.
The while being, every second
struck by the passing ice. But willing
hands got ahold of the straps as best
they could. Cutting neck-yoke straps.
| lines and traces of them-and
with united effort they were able to
pull the near horse up on the bank.
But as the water was so deep and the
current swift, tho rescuers lost their
hold of the other animal. He was
swept down stream still attached to
the front gear by the outside tug.
And / think that that circumstance
proved to be his undoing. For as he
was swept along, we would at times
see his head then again his feet as the
wagon gear driven by the chunks of
ice would tumble him over and un-
der several times before he got to
! the bend in the stream, where he was
swept to the right until he touched
bottom and pulled himself and his
part of the rig. up on dry land close
to the spot where his friend the last
man in the wagon box had landed a
few minutes just before that. re-
member it so we'll, / can see eyery
feature distinctly even how. The
whole occurrance made such an i'm
preston on me. Especially the death
struggle of that poor horse. For by
the next morning the animal was
dead. He dropped in his tracks, where
he stopped after landing. l saw hinl
several times during that day stand
ing up in the same place. Why he
could not be moved | never knew.
Probably surrounded by water.
never knew who owned that team.
The wagon was new that accounts for
the box afloat SO long.
OF the men in the crowd besides
our boys l can only mention old Mr..
Bloomfield Prof. l.. s. Reque was
one Of the onlookers.
All this happened in less than
thirty minutes. We could not stay
to watch any longer. But the little
bridge still remained in place, prob
ably for the reason that it was froze
down.
But about this time something
was happening ever in the big river
too. The old brush dam and bridge
below was carried out. Parts of the
bridge were recovered twenty miles
near the Hively mill, and / remember
seeing trees broken off close to the
ground that seemed like they must
have been sixteen inches in diane
ter. And no wonder. ! remember
several large pieces Of stranded ice
on the way to West Decorah, that J
walked up to and they touched my
chin, and / was 10 small / 8 year Old
at that. Hence judge the ice on the
millpond must have been about four
feet thick. l could tell how five or
us school boys, 3 grown-ups, padded
across the river on large cake OF
ice at the bend above the dam site,
with dry branches of trees only for
Paddles. That was week later
though.
-O--