Flood Victim Found, Hands Clutching Tree
Fisherman's Pants, Noticed on Fence, Believed Torn Off By Force of Water

The body of Frank Dowd, 62, a river fisherman, was found Tuesday west of Farmers Breanch in the mud of retreating flood waters of Elm Fork about 100 yards from the river channel.
Dowd's hands were tightly clutched to the branch of a willow tree. He was last seen Thursday when he left his five-year old daughter, Zona Rose Dowd, with the family of E. J. Elms, living two miles west of Farmers Branch when the river started flooding.
A verdict of death by accidental drowning was rendered by Justice Walter J. Stovall. Dowd's body was taken to the Rhoton Funeral Home, Carrollton. His mother, Mrs. H. R. Dowd, lives at 2727 Throckmorton, Dallas, Justice Stovall said.
Deputy Sheriffs Jim Townsend and W. D. Smith reported that the body was found by E. W. Brake, Carrollton, and J. E. Mills, Farmers Branch.  The two men noticed a pair of trousers hanging on a barbed wire fence as they drove on the Keenan Bridge road.
The found the body near the trousers, which apparently had been torn off Dowd as he was carried downstream by the current. The weight of his body pulled to the ground as the water reached the willow branch he clutched.
Dowd's house was near the river, residents of the area reported. Deputy Sheriff Townsend believed that he was drowned Friday and that he probably was trying to go from his house to the farm home where he had left his small daughter when he was caught by the swift waters.

The Dallas Morning News - February 23, 1938
Submitted by Edward Lynn Williams