These tragic news items tell the story and features the news articles regarding "the male body" recovered in the Maple River near Ida Grove, IA. This research was done by volunteer, L. Ziemann

 

 

 

Yester Year Stories, Backed with Today's Research

S*M*I*T*H

LeMars Globe-Post
May 8, 1924

LE MARS MAN IS FOUND IN RIVER.
HAD BEEN MISSING FOR YEAR AND HALF.
Body of Elmer Smith Found Near Ida Grove—Drank Canned Heat.

Finding the body of Elmer E. Smith, who formerly lived in LeMars, was the experience of H. E. Liming and son, Earl, of Ida Grove on Sunday.  Mr. Liming and son found the body hanging over a tree limb with head and feet in the water, being the Maple river at Ida Grove.  A warrant for arrest had been held by Sheriff Maxwell of LeMars for a year and one-half, charging Smith with desertion of his wife and five children.

Sheriff C. H. Dahlquist, of Ida county, was called and the body was held at Ida Grove for identification.  Mrs. Lettie Smith, living at 227 Second street S. W., saw a news story in the Sioux City papers about finding a man at Ida Grove and left with Sheriff Maxwell to identify him.  Mrs. Smith told authorities that her husband had a scar on his left hip, which he received in a fight.  He was stabbed.  Another scar on the left leg was received from a burn and he had two scars on his face, one between the eyelashes and the other on the chin, received when cranking a car.  Another mark on the left wrist, from a cut received.  When the dead man was examined, there marks were found, and authorities said he was Elmer Smith, wife of Mrs. Smith, of LeMars.

WAS GOING HUSKING.
On December 20, 1922, Mr. Smith told his family he was going to work for a Mr. Sitzman, husking corn, and that he was going to leave for the Sitzman place the same night. Formerly he drove an ice wagon for the LeMars Artificial Ice company.  He told Mrs. Smith to have supper early and in the mean time he went downtown, where he wrote several bad checks, obtaining the money this way to make his getaway.  He owed a local butcher, and went there to pay it, telling the butcher that he needed some change and wrote a check for $10. 

Smith came home, at his supper and said goodbye to his family.  He kissed his family before he left, and after starting, came back to the house to kiss Mrs. Smith goodbye for the second time.  Mrs. Smith thought something strange about this, but said nothing.  When he failed to show up, she swore out desertion papers against him.  He was not seen.

The face of the dead man was hard to recognize as the rope used in pulling him from the water’s edge roughed the face.  Doctors examined him and found no water in the lungs or in the stomach, but did find some “canned heat” which he had consumed.  A quantity of alcohol is found in the canned heat, and as Smith was a drinker, death was believed to have been caused by the chemical.

Smith told his family before that he wanted to go to Odebolt, Ia., where he thought he could get employment on the Adams’ ranch.  Odebolt is near Ida Grove.  It is thought by the people who knew Smith, that he went to the Adams’ ranch, and when he found he couldn’t get employment, went to Ida Grove, where he found work unloading coal and gravel.

Mrs. Smith said there was only one thing that would make her believe it wasn’t her husband.  That was his gray hair.  When he left home his hair was dark.  A doctor told Mrs. Smith that a life like this man led would turn hair from dark to gray in six months.

An inquest held by Coroner E. V. Brookhart, of Ida Grove, revealed the fact that no foul play caused his death, but just the drinking of the canned heat, a substance used in cooking.  It is believed he had swallowed some of it and ran to the river to procure water, and had fallen into the water in an unconscious state.  It is also believed that Smith had been living in company with several tramps in a camp near the river.

Smith’s mother, who lives in Nickerson, Neb., was notified, and burial is pending her decision.  If she wants him buried there, he will be taken to Nickerson; if not, Mrs. Smith, of LeMars, will have charge of the body.

Deceased was between 35 and 40 years of age.  Mrs. Smith said she did not know his exact age, as he never told her.  He leaves a wife and five small children, one being sick at home, with pneumonia.  The children are:  Shirley, age 11; Elvord, 9; Elton, 7; Albert, 5; Ivan, 2.

Mrs. Smith is also the mother of two grown children, one is George Elmer McElhose, who is in the United States navy, and Mrs. Gladys Werthan, of Detroit, Mich. 

LeMars Semi-Weekly Sentinel, May 9, 1924
WIFE DESERTER IS DROWNED
Body of Elmer E. Smith Found in River Near Ida Grove
FAMILY LIVE IN LE MARS 
Death Believed to Have Been Accidental 

The body of an unknown man was found in the Maple river about a mile west of Ida Grove between 9 and 10 a.m. Sunday by fishermen. The body, when discovered, was floating in the stream, the back up. It had the appearance of having been in the water 48 hours or more.  The man drifted into Ida Grove the latter part of last week with another drifter, and they unloaded a carload of gravel for a local firm and a car of coal Tuesday and Wednesday, and after receiving their pay disappeared.  There was nothing in the man’s pockets but a comb and spoon and not a scrap of writing. He was about 5 feet, 8 or 9 inches in height, between 35 and 40 years old, weighed about 165 pounds, had a well taken care of set of teeth, several gold ones, dark brown hair, and wore a khaki shirt and a pair of pants supported by one suspender.  No one has been found to whom he talked and the partner who was with him has disappeared. There were no marks to indicate that he met his death through foul play.  The above item in the daily papers was read by Mrs. Lettie Smith, residing on Third street, this city, and the descriptions led her to believe that the dead man was her husband, who deserted her and her children here some two years ago.  She informed the authorities of her assumption and, in company with Sheriff Hugh Maxwell, Mrs. Maxwell and Deputy Sheriff Sam Lang, she identified the body as that of her husband. Sheriff Maxwell also identified the body.  A dispatch from Ida Grove says: The body of the man found floating in the Maple river, near Ida Grove, Sunday, has been identified as Elmer E. Smith, of LeMars, for whom a warrant of arrest has been held by Sheriff Hugh Maxwell for two years. The warrant charged the man with desertion [copy blurred/unreadable] …..children. 

The body was found by H. E. Liming and son Earl, of Ida Grove, Sunday while they were fishing. Sheriff C. H. Dahlquist, of Ida county, was called. The body was held at Ida Grove for identification and Mrs. Lettie Smith accompanied by Sheriff Maxwell, identified the body as the husband of Mrs. Smith, missing for the last two years. 

An inquest held by Coroner E. W. Brookhart of Ida Grove, revealed the fact that no water was in the lungs or stomach of the dead man. Coroner Brookhart stated that the found traces of “canned heat” in the stomach and that it was his belief that the man had swallowed some of that and run to the river to procure water, and had fallen into the water in an unconscious state.   It is believed that Smith had been living in company with several tramps in a camp near the river.  

According to the Le Mars officers Mrs. Smith declared her inability and disinclination to take charge of the remains. The officers located two brothers of the dead man at Nickerson, Neb., and notified them.  Mrs. Smith is in indigent circumstances and has five children to support. One of them, a boy, aged about 9, is very sick with neuritis and other complications.  

Smith, while a resident of LeMars, was employed as a day laborer.  Mrs. Smith, when seen by a Sentinel Reporter, stated she identified the dead man as her husband by scars he bore on his side, leg and wrist. Identification by his face and head was more difficult to her as she said he had greatly changed in appearance since she saw him last, his hair being much grayer, and his face blackened by exposure and by being in the water. 

Allan L. Smith, residing on Seventh Avenue SW, and Oscar Smith, of Merrill, uncle and cousin of the dead man, went to Ida Grove Wednesday to see about the disposition of the body, as relatives at Nickerson, Nebraska, told the Ida Grove authorities to care for the remains.

LeMars Globe-Post
Monday, May 12, 1924

SAYS BODY FOUND WAS NOT SMITH’S
STORIES OF DEAD BODY CONFLICT
Asserts Corpse Smaller and Looked Much Older Than Elmer Smith.

The body which was supposed to be that of Elmer E. Smith, of LeMars, which was found in the Maple river, near Ida Grove a week ago Sunday, was the body of another person, says A. F. Smith, living at 301 Ninth avenue S. W.  Mr. Smith was in The Globe-Post office Friday and said he and his son, Oscar, of Merrill, went to Ida Grove Thursday, and upon a close investigation, found the body there was much smaller and looked older than Elmer Smith.

Smith says that Ida county will bury the unknown man, and also says that relatives at Nickerson, Neb., will have nothing to do with the body.  Smith also states that the dead body at Ida Grove wore a number 6 shoe and the Elmer Smith of LeMars wears a number 8.  A. F. Smith of LeMars is an uncle of the missing Elmer Smith.

Mrs. Letta Smith, wife of Elmer, was in The Globe-Post office Saturday and says that the dead body at Ida Grove is that of her husband.  She also states that the only change in of the dead man is that of his hair and face.  A doctor told her at Ida Grove that a life like the deceased man lived would turn hair gray in six months.  The face could not be recognized, as the rope used in pulling the body from the river bruised the flesh.

When Mrs. Smith was at Ida Grove, officials wanted to hear a description of the dead man before she saw him.  She gave her descriptions and when the body was examined, every mark she explained was on the body, according to her statement here.

The Sioux City Journal
Wednesday, May 14, 1924
DROWNED MAN NOT IDENTIFIED.
Relatives Elmer Smith Say Body at Ida Grove Not His.

(Special Dispatch to the Journal)
LeMars, Ia., May 13.—A. F. Smith, uncle of Elmer Smith, makes the claim that the man whose body was found in the river at Ida Grove was not Elmer Smith at all.  He says Smith was considerably younger and larger than the man found at Ida Grove.

Oscar Smith of Merrill, cousin of Elmer Smith, also claims that the body is that of a stranger.  Ida county will bury the unknown man, the Smith family at Nickerson, Neb., having refused to accept it.

*~* Today's additional research ongoing -- If not Elmer A. Smith, then whose body was found in the Maple River, near Ida Grove? Documents located online (in 2021) tend to indicate that Elmer Allen Smith was NOT the victim in that river in 1924.

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1900 Federal Census, Bush Precinct, Boyd County
Smith, Edward, HEAD, age 40, born July 1859, marr 12 yrs
Smith, Eliza, wife, age 29, born Jun 1870, marr 12 yrs/6 children/6 living children                      
Smith, Elmer A., son, age 8, born Nebraska, May 1892

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The Sioux City Journal
Sunday, December 3, 1911

MARRIAGE LICENSE RECORD.
The following have been licensed to wed:
Name and Age ……………….Residence

Elmer Smith, 28 ------------Emerson, Neb
Mrs. Letta McElhose, 27 –--Sioux City

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WWI Registration Card – dated June 5, 1917
Elmer A. Smith
Res: Lawton, Iowa (Woodbury County)
Date of Birth:  May 20, 1891
Where born:  Lynch, Nebraska
Present Occupation:  Farmer
Currently: unemployed
Dependents:  Wife & five children

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1920 Federal Census, Sioux City Iowa, Precinct 9

Smith, Elmer A. & wife, Lettie, & kids are enumerated together.

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The news in 1924 states that the wife Lettie "believed" the man in the river was her husband Elmer, who had left her & the children in 1922.

Copy of Elmer A. Smith's Death Certificate--Lettie was the Informant

Notice the question mark ? added after his name.

The certificate states that the body was shipped to Iowa City for burial.

Burial location has been researched--so far no burial place found.

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The Nickerson, Nebraska (immediate family) did NOT accept the body. The News reports mention that the SMITH family did not believe that the body in the river belonged to their Elmer A. Smith.

Further research does lend to the fact that Elmer Allen Smith did live on elsewhere – he did fill out a WWII Registration Card:

Douglas County Local Board #3
Fontenelle Hotel Building
Omaha, Nebraska
Serial Number:  3705
Elmer Allen Smith
1303 ½ Douglas, Omaha, Nebraska (Douglas County)
Telephone: none
Age in years: 49
Place of Birth:  Lynch, Nebraska
Date of Birth:  May 28, 1892
Name & Address of Person Who Will Always Know Your Address:
Frank Sanburn
1303 ½ Douglas, Omaha, Nebraska
Employer’s Name and Address:
Burlington RR – Gang #5
Omaha, Nebraska
Signature of Registrar: Emily Klepa, and dated  April 25, 1942

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Sad Story -- Wondering WHO the body in the Maple River in 1924 belonged too?

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IF RESEARCH REVEALS ANYTHING FURTHER -- will post more later.

 

IAGenWeb 2021