“Body of Carla-Drowned O’Connor Man Found”
William Madden 3rd County Victim

A third Calhoun death from Hurricane Carla was affirmed over the weekend when the body of William Archie Madden, 74, of Port O’Connor was found about five miles from Port O’Connor on a ranch.
Madden had been listed as missing during the storm, but was taken off the missing list a few days later when Port O’Connor relatives’ said they had received reports that he had taken refuge on a tugboat and had reached Port Aransas.

(The) Body of the elderly man was found Saturday by a Moody ranch rider several hundred yards inland from the Intercoastal (Intracostal) Canal.  He was clothed in waders, a jacket and a life preserver.  Sheriff D.B. Haliburton reported.  The elderly man’s boat was found about a half mile from his body.  Identification of the body was made by W.W. Zwerschke, a distant relative.   An inquest of the death was held by Peace Justice Louise Sharp of Port O’Connor and Peace Justice Frank Kelly of Port Lavaca.

The Madden death brings to three the number of Calhoun persons to die in Carla.  A father and son, Jose Salinas, 55, and Domingo Salinas , 17, were drowned at Olivia when their house collapsed on them.  A fear that Madden was lost in Carla was voiced just hours after the storm ended by fisherman Chris Clarich of Port O’Connor who “rode out” the storm in the Port O’Connor school building.  Clarich talked with Madden on the Port O’Connor water front a few hours before the hurricane hit there in force.  The elderly man lived alone in a small house on the water front.  From the conversation, Clarich feared that Madden had attempted to ride out the high water in his boat.  During Carla, the tug boat “Bullet” of Corpus Christi rode part of the storm in San Antonio bay, near Port O’Connor and it was believed that Madden took refuge on it.

Funeral services for Madden were held Sunday in the Richardson Colonial Chapel with Rev. Wayne Bennett, pastor of the Seadrift Baptist Church officiating. Burial was in the Seadrift Cemetery. Survivors include one brother F.J. Madden, and two sisters, Mrs. Janie Patterson and Mrs. Maggie Webb, all of Houston.