THE FLAGLER TRIBUNE
Bunnell, Florida
Thursday, March 19, 1931
Hendrik Meeuwig, 46, winter resident of Flagler Beach, drowned in the Florida East Coast Canal this afternoon while fishing with reel and rod near the Stuckey homestead.
According to information revealed during inquest held by Justice of the Peace W. Lee Bartlett, Meeuwig was seen fishing at the point where his body was found in the canal by one of the Stuckey boys and later they found his fishing tackle in the edge of the canal and not finding Meeuwig called in assistance and located the body, which had no marks to show that he died from any cause other than drowning.
It also developed at the inquest that Meeuwig had suffered some months from an injury to his back, which caused him to fall if he attempted to stoop. The theory was advanced that his fishing line caught on one of the many rocks jutting out along the canal at this point and that he attempted to wade out to untangle it and stepped into deep water, it being reported that he could not swim.
Coast Guardsman C. D. Toler took charge of the body until the inquest was held, the body then was turned over to Haigh-Brooks, morticians of Daytona Beach and the man's widow, who resides in St. Louis, Mo. was notified. She wired authorities here to ship the body back to St. Louis for burial.
Meeuwig has been a winter resident at Flagler Beach for several seasons and passed most of the time fishing in the ocean or canal, it was said.
