ANGIE BOWSHER

BOWSHER, BALLEW, DRISCOLL

Posted By: Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert (email)
Date: 1/11/2002 at 20:55:12

Leon Reporter
August l, l895

A distressing and heart-rending accident
occurred at the Lineville
Mineral Springs last Wednesday evening about
dark, which will probably
result in the death of MISS ANGIE BOWSHER,
daughter of H.C. BOWSHER, a
well known hardware merchant of Princeton.
MISS BOWSHER and her mother
as chaparone of a party of young lady friends
from Princeton, were
spending the week camping near the Mineral
Springs Hotel, and up to the
time of the accident were greatly enjoying
their outing. About dark
Wednesday evening the young people were
returning to camp after a visit
to the Hotel, MISS BOWSHER with two or three
companions walking in front
of the rest of the party. MISS ALLIE BALLEW
followed with the others a
short distance behind was carrying a target
rifle. From some cause
entirely accidental, the weapon was
discharged and the ball struck MISS
BOWSHER in the small of the back, near the
spine, passed through her
body, ranging in an upward course, and lodged
under the skin just to the
right of the umbilicus. Drs. Glendenning of
this place were hastily
summoned to attend the wounded girl,
extracting the ball which was of 22
calibre, and gave her all the attention
suggested by experience and
skill. It was feared from the first that the
ball in its course through
the body had punctured the stomache and
intestines, as during the night
following the accident considerable blood was
vomited by the patient.

The father of the unfortunate girl arrived on
the l0 o'clock train that
night and upon consultation Dr. Sawyer, of
Centerville, was wired to
come, and he with Drs. Bruen and Bristow, of
Princeton, arrived by the
afternoon trains Thursday and with Drs.
Glendenning of this place, went
to the Mineral Springs Hotel. After a
careful examination, an operation
was decided upon, which was performed as
speedily as the circumstances
of the case would permit. It was found that
the ball had punctured one
of the intestines in two places and passed
through the lower part of the
stomache making in its passage two punctures
in that organ. These were
skillfully drawn together and closed by
stitches and after effects of
the operation and anasthetic had passed off,
the condition of the
patient was so favorable as to inspire a hope
of her recovery.

The unfortunate girl is seventeen years of
age, highly educated and
accomplished, and a general favorite. Her
sad mishap has cast a gloom
over this community and filled every heart
with sadness and regret. She
is the object of the tenderest care and
solicitude by her parents and
friends and the good people of the Mineral
Sprintgs Hotel, and all that
can be done by surgical skill and careful
nursing will be exerted in her
behalf. MISS BALLEW, the innocent cause of
the accident to her friend,
is almost prostrated with grief.

--LINEVILLE
TRIBUNE.

LATER--We learn that MISS BOWSHER died
Saturday night. She was a cousin
of J.R. BOWSHER and MRS. C.M. KOHLER of this
city.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leon Reporter
August 8, l895

The following account of the death of MISS
ANGIE BOWSHER, who was
accidentally shot at Lineville, is taken from
the Princeton (Mo.) Press:

The closing scenes of ANGIE's life were said
to have been the grandest
ever witnessed by those present. MRS. BELLE
DRISCOLL and her sister,
HORTENSE, were sitting by her several hours
before her death, when she
asked MRS. DRISCOLL to read to her from the
Bible, at which time her
sister asked her if Jesus was with her. She
answered, "Yes, He is right
here with me." She then started to sing and
sang one verse of "Rock of
Ages" after which she exclaimed, "Oh, how
beautiful! Perfectly lovely!"
and said: "I see ZOIE and GENIE and there is
MR. CARL." ZOIE and GENIE
were her little sisters who died several
years ago. She then sang a
line or two after which she asked all to pray
with her and she led them
in the Lord's Prayer, she then called on all,
or nearly all, in the room
to pray, and afterwards started several songs
and spoke of the lovely
music and how bautiful everything was. "Tell
ALLIE good-bye, she didn't
go to knock the gun off. ALLIE is a
Christian girl, she'll meet me in
Heaven." She sent messages to a number of
her friends and relatives
asking them to be Christians and said to Dr.
Glendenning, "Doctor, Pa
thought you could cure me."

The songs were, "Alas and did my Savior
bleed, and did my sovereign
die. Would he devote that sacred head for
such a worm as I", "Praise
God from whom all blessings flow."

HORTIE asked her if she was going to Heaven.
She answered, "Yes, of
course I am going to Heaven. You are all
going there and then we will
be one unbroken band." She asked if Bro.
Russell had come, and said she
wanted to see him and hear him pray. They
told her he would be there in
a short time, when she asked if they could
not send for him, which they
did, meeting him about a mile from the hotel.
They hurried to the hotel
and when he went in the room she spoke of his
kindness toward her and
said, "It is so good to be a Christian."
Bro. Russell told her that
ALLIE sent her love to her, when she said,
"Tell ALLIE she didn't go to
knock the gun off; no she didn't go to do it.
Tomorrow is Sunday, isn't
it? First day in Heaven will be Sunday; won't
that be grand?" She then
asked Bro. Russell to read and pray. When he
took the Bible to read,
she asked everyone to listen. He read
several verses from the 8th
Chapter of Romans, after which he offered up
a prayer. During the
reading and the prayer she exclaimed "Amen!"
several times. After the
prayer she said, "Let us sing something", and
started the song "Shall we
meet beyond the river" and all sang with her.
At the conclusion she
shouted "Hallelujah." She asked for another
prayer and Bro. Russell
prayed again. She then looked up and said,
"Tell ALLIE good-bye",
called her sister and said, "HORTIE I'm going
to Heaven", and then
addressed her mother thus: "Mother, wasn't
ZOIE a lovely child, what
will I tell ZOIE? And there is GENIE AND
FANNIE." She was very weak by
this time and seemed very anxious to pass
over the river. She soon fell
asleep from which she awoke in the arms of
her Savior. During all the
time she never complained and was all the
time cheerful, dying
peacefully about six o'clock Sunday morning.

The remains were brought to her home in
Princeton Sunday evening.

Funeral services were held at the Baptist
Church Monday afternoon. Rev.
T.M. Kenney, of Trenton, preached the sermon,
short talks were made by
Rev. O.S. Russell and Dr. E. Glendenning, of
Lineville. Although the
weather was very disagreeable and the rain
falling, the church was
crowded and many were standing on the
outside. After the service the
remains were conveyed to the cemetery and
interred by the side of her
little sisters who had gone before.

ANGIE was born Oct. 24, l875, making her l8
years, 9 months and 4 days
old. She was well educated, a student of
Hardin College, at Mexico,
Mo., and a general favorite with her
relatives and associates. The
entire community sympathize with her parents,
sisters and relatives in
their bereavement, but can offer no words of
condolence equal to those
spoken by ANGIE during her last hours on
earth.

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Copied by Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert
January ll, 2002