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Week-End Outing Ends In Death Of Arthur Boedeker
Freeporter Drowns In Rock River Near Sterling Saturday Night
Leaky Boat Fills With Water While Crossing River
Two Companions Float to Shore With Overturned Craft; Third Swims To Bank
Freeport Journal Standard, Freeport, Illinois Monday August 30, 1937
Contributed by Alice Horner
Attempting to swim to shore in Rock River from a water-logged old flatboat in which he and three companions were crossing the river three miles north of Sterling about 10 o’clock Saturday night, Arthur K. Boedeker, 32, 1227 East Shawnee Street, Freeport, was drowned in ten feet of water. The body was recovered at 5 o’clock Sunday morning by members of Sterling fire department, who, with others, had dragged the water during the night.
Carl Boedeker, Sterling, brother of the deceased; Oscar Camerer, 933 ½ South Chippewa Ave., a brother-in-law, and Irving Loring, 911 S. Arcade Avenue, a friend of the group, reached safety by clinging to the boat after it had overturned in the stream.
On Fishing Trip
The fatality took place after the four men had rowed across the river to the opposite bank to fish. Loring and Camerer came back to the north side of the stream and later went back to join the two brothers on the return trip to the cabin where the party was to spend the night. When about two-thirds of the way across, the boat, which was an old, abandoned flatbottomed affair picked up on the shore by a fisherman, and which had required bailing out during the crossing by the men, began leaking so badly that all four of the occupants were obliged to leave it and try to reach shore as best they could.
Loring and Carl Boedeker obtained a hold on the boat, which overturned after the men left it, and succeeded in floating to shore. Camerer and Arthur Boedeker started to swim toward the north side of the stream, Camerer succeeded in his attempt but Boedeker sank.
Dr. C. M. Frye, county coroner, conducted the inquest Sunday morning and a verdict of accidental drowning was returned by the jury. It was testified at the hearing that the boat was not safe for even one man to operate and that the current was swift where the fatality occurred.
Carl Boedeker has a cabin on the river about three miles north of Sterling where he has been living since August 1. Mr. and Mrs. Camerer, and Mrs. William Boedeker, mother of the deceased, came to the cabin Friday afternoon at 5 o’clock, and early Saturday evening Loring and Arthur Boedeker joined the family group, with the intention of remaining for an outing and fishing trip.
Arthur K. Boedeker was born April 7, 1905. He was united in marriage with Alma Shank on August 20, 1925. The deceased is survived by his widow; two children, James, 3, and Joyce, 9; his mother, Mrs. William Boedeker; two sister, Mrs. Oscar Camerer, 933 ½ South Chippewa Ave., and Mrs. E. G. McCulloch, 1316 S. Walnut Ave., and the brother, Carl Boedeker of Sterling. His father, William Boedeker, preceded him in death September 17, 1932 when he was fatally burned in an explosion at the former Lakeside Signal Company plant on South Arcade Avenue, in which fire Adam Maltry, a neighbor, also lost his life. A daughter also preceded him in death.
Mr. Boedeker, who was employed as a shipping clerk at the Arcade Manufacturing Company plant, had been with the company for the past five years. Funeral services will be held Tuesday afternoon at 4 o’clock at the home, 1227 East Shawnee Street. Rev. Edwin A. Arends, pastor of St. John’s Evangelical Church, officiating. Burial will be in the City Cemetery.