MARCO SCHWANKE

High Voltage Kills Farmer
MARCUS SCHWANKE ELECTROCUTED AS HE REPAIRED WELL Steel Tube Came In Contact With High Tension Wire; Valders Man’s Father Knocked Down By Shock When a steel tube he was holding in repairing a pump on his father’s farm came in contact with an electric wire carrying 3,600 (sic) volts, Marcus Schwanke, 24, young farmer residing north of Valders, was killed at 10 a.m. today.
The father, Albert, was thrown to the floor and sustained slight burns but was not seriously hurt. Rescue crews applied the prone pressure resuscitation method on Schwanke for more than two hours but were unable to revive him.
Marcus, more familiarly known as “Marco,” resided with his wife and small child located a mile and one-half northwest of Valders on County Trunk J.
The farm of his father was adjoining.
Repair Pump
The father and son went to the pumphouse this morning to repair the pump which had not been in good working order of late. The pump is housed by a shed on the edge of the Schwanke property a few feet from the road. It is almost directly underneath the high tension wires of the Wisconsin Public Service corporation.
According to information obtained by Dr. W. G. Kemper, county coroner, the floor of the shed was wet. Marcus held a steel pipe which was to be forced into the well. The pipe extended through a hole into the roof. In some manner, it came in contact with the electric wires and the fact that Schwanke stood on a damp surface formed a perfect ground.
Albert Schwanke, the father, remembers little of what happened. He was thrown to the floor and sustained a bump on the back of his head and burns about the hands. Marcus was badly burned about the hands and legs. The sole of one shoe was burned through.
It was reported that a small boy, either the son or a brother of the victim, was also in the shed at the time and received a slight shock. He was hurt even less than the elder Schwanke.
A Wisconsin Public Service corporation rescue squad was summoned to the farm and applied resuscitation methods but without success. When Dr. Kemper, the coroner, reached the farm, he expressed the belief that death had occurred about an hour before. The rescue crew continued to work until about 12:15.
(Photo of Marcus)
Manitowoc Evening Times, Wednesday, September 2, 1931 P. 1
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TO BURY VICTIM OF HIGH VOLTAGE WIRE SATURDAY No Inquest To Be Held in Death of M. Schwanke, Valders Youth, Who Was Electrocuted.
Funeral services for Marcus Valders, 23 year old Valders young man, electrocuted on the homestead farm of his father Wednesday morning, when a charge of 6900 volts of electricity passed through his body, will be held Saturday afternoon at two o’clock from the farm home and later from the Savior’s church at Valders. The dead youth was one of eleven children in the family of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Schwanke.
The fatal accident occurred when the elder Schwanke and his three sons, Marcus, Leroy and Ormond, were engaged in making changes and repairs to a pump on the farm. The pump was in a shed, the concrete floor of which was covered with water. Marcus Schwanke had lifted the pipe up into the air and in so doing it came so close to the power wire running to the motor in the pump house, that a spark jumped from the wire, down the pipe and through the youth’s body causing almost instant death.
Father Knocked Unconscious
Albert Schwanke, the father, was knocked unconscious by the shock and suffered burns to his face and hands while one other son, Leroy, was also knocked unconscious by the shock, a heavy black abrasion on his back showing where he had been partially affected by the shock. The third son, Ormond, was not in the pump house, but was close by, and he summoned his mother from the home. By this time, the elder Schwanke had revived and when phone calls to Valders and closeby points failed to locate a physician, a call was sent to Manitowoc and Coroner W. G.
Kemper responded.
Rescue Squad Works
A resuscitation squad from the Wisconsin Public Service Corporation responded also, and worked over the body of Marcus Schwanke for nearly two hours, but he was past human aid. There were severe burns on his hands, arms and shoulders and his shoes and stockings were badly burned, indicating where the heavy bolt had passed out of his body.
Albert Schwanke, father of the dead boy, stated today that the wire carrying the current from the poles along the highway to the motor in the pumphouse was not insulated but inquiry at the offices of the Wisconsin Public Service Corporation here disclosed that the wires to rural customers are not insulated. First reports said that the iron pipe that Schwanke and his son were taking out of the well came in contact with the wire but further investigation disclosed that the pipe was not long enough to reach the wire, but the end probably came close enough to allow the spark to jump the gap and go down the iron pipe and through the body of Marcus. The elder Schwanke and his son Leroy, also victims of the shock, were up and about today and will probably suffer no ill effects from the accident.
Married Two Years Ago
Marcus Schwanke was born 23 years ago and has always resided in the county, having been engaged in working a small section of his father’s farm, which is located a mile north of Valders on County Trunk J, where the tragedy Wednesday took place. Two years ago, he was married to Emily Grassik who survives him with an infant son, (private). His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Schwanke, four brothers, Irving of Grimms, Gerhardt, Leroy and Ormond, all of Valders, six sisters, Linda, Vernetta and Naomi at home, Erna of this city, Mrs. Esther and Mrs. George Broussard of Two Rivers also survive.
No Inquest To Be Held
Coroner Kemper announced today that there would be no inquest held in the Schwanke death, it being plainly one of accidental death.
Manitowoc Herald News, Thursday, September 3, 1931 P. 4

Parents Were Albert and Martha. Sister was Linda.