The Oskaloosa herald., 1916-03-02
.ROMMEL'S BODY
IS RECOVERED
HAD NOT MOVED FROM WHERE
HE WAS DROWNED.
LOCATED BY HIS CO-WoRKER
Coroner cheesman and Others Take
Desperate Chances Working In
the Ice Filled Swift Cur
rent of the Stream.

fast to its trunk, the body of E. A.
Rommel, county engineer of Mahaska,
was located and recovered Monday
afternoon by Charles Thomas, who
was with the engineer when he per
ished and by County Coroner, e. NJ.
'Cheesman.
The body was. found at the spot
where Thomas had seen the engineer
sink beneath the food waters. The
.overcoat had caught in some drift or
brush, and the body was further held
by the arm encircling the tree. The
body was lodged against the tree in
about four or FIVE feet of water. After
the body was located the recovery OF
the dead engineer from the flood be
came a question for solution on ac-
count of the nature of the place and
its surroundings and the difficulty OF
reaching the dead man with the boat.
Over an hour Of careful work was re-
quired to secure the body and bring
1t out to the shore. Messrs Thomas
and Cheesman were given assistance
iE the handling of the body by pep
pers" Richmond and a Mr.. Brown,
who had worked a second boat down
through the swift current to the To-
|cality. ..
As soon as the body was brought
out to the mainland a car was secured
and the body was hurried to town and
was cared for at the Cheeseman Un-
dertaking establishment. II was con.
siderably frozen from the contact with
the icy water but otherwise was in
good condition, there being no wounds
or abrasions from the contact with
ice or debris. The body reached the
city about five O'Clock last evening,
following its discovery about three
o'clock or a little after, &c..
Men Take Chance. .
Recovery of the body was due to
the determination Of Messrs. Chees-
man and Thomas to go into the rapids
where the accident occurred AMI at
tempt to drag the drift near where
Rommel was seen to go down. They
knew it was a hazardous undertaking
but they went prepared to care for
themselves in case of accident. Sue
cess rewards their effort. .
The men had a quantity of rope
which they attached to trees and us.
ing these as pay lines the" let the
boat down foot by foot until they were
at the willow tree where the accident
occurred Saturday evening. But they
we're unable to go further from this
point. and had to retrace their route
and get to the drift by going around
another way where they could use
other trees for their line. They secur-
ed more. rope by taking the line from
the willow by which Thomas had been
saved. But in order to get to the local
ity of the drift the men had to cut
much Of their way through ice and
debris and drift making a particularly
hard task. They worked through many
feet of their way and at last Thomas
left the boat and climbed out over the
drift.
Sees Body.
Looking from the drift in the direc.
ton of the place where he had seen
Rommel go down, Thomas could see
the garments of the dead man waving
about in the current. The overcoat ap-
peared to be caught and, held.
When the men wore able to attach
lines and work their way down to the
body they first made sure it could not
get away from them in the rush of the
water by securing 1t with lines they
had with them in the boat. Thomas
succeeded in passing rope beneath
the body and when it was finally Sc
cured the ice was broken and 1t was
cut free. Before the body of Rommel
could be placed in the boat however,
the body had to be carried consider
able distance over frozen drift through
which the men broke several times.
(,roatncf ho,1 To hn nd
the assistance rendered by Messrs.
Richmond and Brown who arrived OPP
portunely wa, necessary. These boys
had made their way down into the
place by means of the ropes put up
by Cheesman AMI Thomas.
Weighted BY the Water soaked over
coat the body of the dead man was
next to impossible to handle and the
garment was removed only with diff
Guilty.
Near Body Sunday.
Workers were within thirty feet of
the body Sunday or even closer and
ii might have been possible then to
have seen the overcoat tapping about
in the current. The overturned and
sunken boat was located Sunday and
" plCNSuL lSllo ltUul ScIllllS away
to the main channel of the river some.
one was able to make the boat fast to
tree. The body of the engineer was
found near the end of the boat.
Numerous persons were engaged all
day Sunday in the effort to drag the
locality where the unfortunate Rom.
mel lost his life. ...s,,..' ~ -
Several boats we're secured and
couple of men brought boats from Ed.
dyville and worked all day in the vi
cinity of the gorge. ~, ..} /.
Members of the Board of Supervis-
ors we're at or near the scene of the
browning all day Sunday and Mon
day and eight or ten men of those en-.
gagged in the search were employed
by the Board. ns 4s
Little or nothing was being done on
Monday morning when the Board mem.
bers were on the ground again. The.
statement was made that the body
had probably been washed down into
a whirlpool in the main channel OF
the river and carried beneathe the ice
gorge.
g Mr.. Cheesman did not feel satisfied
to abandon the search without anoth.