LeMars Globe-Post
June 15, 1953
REMSEN MEN WON BITTER FIGHT FOR LIVES BEFORE LAST MINUTE RESCUE
Hands Cut To Ribbons While Neighbors Rush Aid
Remsen Bell-Enterprise: Two Remsen farmers who clung desperately to a barb wire fence as the battled flood waters north of Remsen at dusk Sunday, are thankful for the timely arrival of a two-man rescue party which took the men to safety in a boat.
Richard Staab and Victor Heuertz, after a visit in the nearby home of the former’s brother, Mike Staab, were returning to the Ralph Staab farm north of Remsen.
A half mile north of the Staab place, they encountered water rushing over the road. Underestimating its depth and force, they plunged the car forward but the water’s depth brought it to a stop.
The two sat helpless for a short time as the water crept higher and when it reached their waists the car simultaneously began to veer off the roadway. Both leaped from the car as it headed for a ditch, and were carried away by the swift current. They grabbed the wire fencing to which they clung for nearly a half hour.
Having previously noticed the lights of the stalled car, Harold Presuhn, farmer living a short distance from the scene, later noticed the car in the same position with the lights out. He investigated, called Edw. Lang, also living nearby, and the latter came with a boat to effect the rescue. They returned to the Presuhn farm home, both nursing barb-wire cuts on their hands.
The car, a sedan owned by Mr. Heuertz, was not upset and not damaged beyond being plastered inside with mud and various debris.