Sycamore True Republican

June 23, 1937

YOUTH IS DROWNED IN RIVER BRANCH
DONALD HARMS, AGED 17, LOSES LIFE
SEARCH ENTIRE NIGHT

Slips From Muddy Bank Into Six Feet of Water In Swift Running Stream.
Divers, Grappling Equipment, and Dynamite Used.

Donald Harms, 17 years old, of 822 Dekalb Avenue, was swept to his death by the
swift current of the South Branch of the Kishwaukee River, one forth mile South
of the Mayfield bridge on route 64 early yesterday evening.

The body of the drowned boy was recovered shortly after 10 o'clock this morning.
The river was combed futilely all night. This morning a rope was spread across the
river and 35 men grasping hold of it formed a solid line that waded down stream.
The lifeless form of the boy was found in the riverbed not more than 20 feet from
the place where he fell into the water.

Donald was the son of H.G. Harms a plumber. He finished his junior year at the
Sycamore High School this year. His death is the second drowning in the Kishwaukee
in this vicinity this week. Walter Meyers, a Chicagoan, was drowned in scarcely more
than two feet of water on the Campbell farm near Kingston, Sunday.

The Harms boy was drowned shortly after 7 o'clock last night. He had gone to the
stream to swim along with Paul Fant, a chum and Bruce and Elma Higgins, who are
brothers. Paul Fant is the son of Edward Fant and lives on Edward Street. The two
Higgins boys live nearby on Elmwood Street.

The boys went to the point near the gravel pit on the old Black farm, tenanted by
H.G. Sieren. They took off their clothes and got a keg, which they were to use for diving.

The water at the point is about six feet deep though just a stones throw up stream there
is a gravel pit where the depth is said to reach from 15 to 20 feet deep. According to the
version given by Fant, the Harms boy slipped on the muddy bank and fell into the water.
He screamed for help and young Fant says he dove in after him but the murky water
closed over the youth and he did not come to the surface again. Fant said that the water
is so swift that he himself had trouble getting out.

Screams of the boys attracted the attention of Mrs. Sieren in her farm home on top of
the hill. She summoned neighbors, notified the Sheriff, and called Dr. H.J. Trapp in the
hope that if the boy was recovered from the water, he might be resuscitated.

Sheriff Larson and Deputy Sheriff Lyman Sebree sped to the scene. The county has a
boat for life saving. The sheriff chanced to remember it was drill night for Headquarters
Co., 129th Infantry. He called Capt. Carlson who rushed the boat out in a motor truck
and took his men out in cars to lend all possible assistance.

Meanwhile the fire department with it's inhalator had also rushed to the scene of the
drowning. As the news of the drowning spread, scores of persons rushed to the river.
Allen Campbell, postal employee, who was life guard at the community center pool,
hastily organized a crew of expert swimmers, and they dove into the cold and muddy
water in hopes of finding the body.

A net was stretched across the river at the Mayfield Bridge and heavy wire netting thrown
across the stream a short distance upstream. Sheriff Larson and Deputy Sebree dragged
the river with grappling equipment owned by the county. Fritz Loptien rigged up a cradle
shaped device and it was dragged through the river in hopes of gathering the body of the
drowned boy.

The surface of the water was illuminated by scores of automobiles parked along the bank
of the river. The searchers worked all night without avail. Donald Kendall of the Kendall
Restaurant supplied the divers and others with coffee, doughnuts and sandwiches at intervals.

Sheriff Larson said the recovery of the body would be all the more difficult because the
body was unclothed and the grappling equipment would be less likely to take hold. Many
thought that because of the swift running water, the body unless it had become snagged,
had been carried far downstream before the net had been stretched across the river at the
Mayfield Bridge.

This morning the dragging of the river was continued and charges of dynamite were placed
near the scene of the drowning, in the hope of bringing the body to the surface. By reason
of the coldness of the water, it was estimated that the body would not arise of itself for at
least 24 to 36 hours.

Three Sycamore troops of Boy Scouts this morning took up an organized patrolling of
the river. They were Troop 34 of the Salem Lutheran Church, Troop 16 of the Federated
Church, and Troop 5 of the Methodist Church. They were posted on either side of the
stream for a considerable distance downstream to watch for the appearance of the drowned boy.