Attached are clippings from a book I have in my possession. The dates appear to be 1921-1922. All are Cass County related. Susan Norine Stice October 19, 2003 See copyright notice at bottom of file. ********************************************* Death of Thomas Leroy Herron WAS DROWNED IN BIG CREEK Pleasant Hill Young Man, Veteran of The World War, Victim of Flood Waters in Stream Near His Home Friday Noon For thirteen months, Thomas Leroy Herron weathered the hardships of training and camp life in France and survived the perils of his unit when in the closing days of the war against the Huns it was in the midst of war activities, only to come home and lose his life by drowning last Friday noon in Big Creek, the little stream near his home, swollen into a raging flood by the deluge of rain that fell a little earlier in the day. “Roy” Herron, as he was better known to an immense circle of friends, particularly in the neighborhood of Pleasant Hill, was 29 years of age. The place of the sad accident is about two miles south of Pleasant Hill, near the Dowdy Switch on the Missouri Pacific Railroad. The extremely heavy downpour of rain had transformed Big Creek into a turbulent, gushing torrent, and as the waters spread wider and wider, Fred Johnson, a contractor on the extension of the Missouri Pacific siding at Gowdy, near Herron’s home, decided to move his mules from the camp to a safer site. For this purpose he led them some distance up the railroad track and across the fields to reach the ford across the creek to the Herron place where he wished to put them in the pasture. The Pleasant Hill Times, kindly supplying these facts, says that the water at the ford at this time was some 25 or 30 feet deep and racing along at a mad rate. Johnson on one animal and Herron on the other prepared to swim them across, although they were urged not to make the attempt, neither being able to swim. Johnson’s mule went down at first, but the rider clung to him and safely crossed. When the mule on which Herron was mounted tried to ascend the steep and slippery bank on the other side he seemed to turn completely over in the torrent and the rider slipped off over the animal’s hind quarters. The mule swam back to his starting place, and Herron came to the surface, but once, his arms upraised and at which time he called in the voice of despair to his father, mother and brother. He was submerged an instant later and was seen no more until the body was recovered more than 24 hours later. His father, an elderly man, dived into the torrent and struck within two feet of where his son’s head had appeared, evidently missing him by only inches. The remainder of the day was spent in search for the body, the quest being temporarily abandoned with the coming of darkness. The next morning the search was renewed, there being no dearth in recruits from the I.O.O.F. Lodge of Pleasant Hill and The American Legion Post. The body was found a quarter of a mile below where the drowning occurred, being located by the pole hood of one of the searchers, the hook having caught in the belt of the dead man’s trousers. The funeral of the young man was held at the family home Monday morning under the auspices of Newton Dudley Post, No. 53, American Legion and Occidental Lodge, No. 70, I.O.O.F., both of Pleasant Hill. Fate dealt more than one heartache to the Heron family. The drowned man’s uncle, “Dock” Herron, a farmer near Atherton, Mo. Was killed Saturday by a Santa Fe freight train at Atherton as he was preparing to come to Pleasant Hill to attend his nephew’s funeral. His foot slipping in the loose grave at the side of the track and the impact of the pilot beam of the engine against his head as he fell forward toward the track was responsible for his death. ********************************************* USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free genealogical information on the Internet, data may be freely used for personal research and by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for profit or any form of presentation, must obtain the written consent of the file submitter, or their legal representative, and contact the listed USGenWeb coordinator with proof of this consent.