Death of Amanda Gregoire & Mrs. Julia Chouteau-1880

GREGOIRE, CHOUTEAU

Posted By: Cheryl Locher Moonen (email)
Date: 12/3/2018 at 22:46:40

As is usually the case, there are different versions of what exactly happened on Thanksgiving eve. What is certain is that St. Mary's of East Dubuque was getting ready for their annual church festival the next evening. Amanda Gregoire, 34, and her sister, Mrs. Julia Chouteau, 39, were members of the parish and went to Dubuque on Wednesday morning to sell tickets for the fund-raiser. The sisters made a couple stops in East Dubuque, first at Mrs. Henry Hall's house where they discussed some preparations for the next day. Mrs. Hall asked them to stop by again on their way home for tea and the girls agreed.

At Maguire Bros. store Julia bought a pair of gloves. One of the men in the store cautioned the ladies to be very careful, that the ice might not be safe. The ladies responded that many had already crossed that day and the day before and that light vehicles such as buggies had crossed. Julia commented that she was not afraid to cross and her sister said that if Julia was not afraid neither was she.

The sisters then walked across the frozen river, following the tracks made earlier by a team of horses. They made the rounds of various businesses on Main Street selling a goodly amount of tickets and then stopped by the home of their sister, Mary Louise Preston who lived near 14th and Main. The Prestons asked the ladies if they thought the river was entirely safe to cross and the ladies "answered in a jolly way, that they had no fear" but it may have been false bravado. After dining with the Prestons, the sisters made a few more calls "for their charitable entertainment (and) wended their way to the levee about 5 o'clock." Then began a series of unfortunate events, any one of which might have prevented the tragedy.

At the levee they asked the fireman on the ferryboat, who lived in East Dubuque if he was going across. He told them he was not, that he had to go uptown first. The girls expressed some disappointment at having to cross alone saying "misery loves company" and "thus betrayed a timidity" that regrettably "was not great enough to deter them from making the attempt" and taking the bridge instead.

At least three men were standing on the levee as the ladies stepped out onto the ice. They were talking and paying little attention to the sisters until one of the men exclaimed "Those ladies are going too far up" meaning that they had left the beaten track and had gone further north. Unfortunately none of the men called out to the sisters to advise them of this fact and the men all left.

Another man, a Mr. Black worked on the Illinois side of the river and had just crossed over on the ice to Dubuque when saw the women, whom he knew well, go out onto the ice. As he reached the pavement he turned around and took another look at the ladies and thought to himself that they were going a little too far north. He said later that he felt half inclined to notify them but he knew they had crossed in the morning and decided it was not necessary so he continued on his way.

John Raup lived on the levee and he saw the ladies crossing just about dusk, and remarked to someone that he thought "they were somewhat out of the way."

Nick Weis, "a young lad" lived in East Dubuque and worked in Dubuque. He had just gotten off work and "I started for home between 5 and 6 o'clock. I came down Third Street, as that is nearer, and I could just as easily get upon the ice. When but a short distance I saw two ladies walking ahead of me, and all of a sudden they called for help. One was in the water, and the other had started back, and wanted me to give her my hand. I was badly frightened, and ran back to the shore where Mr. O'Connell lives and told him that two ladies were in the river and one was already drowned."

O'Connell picks up the story from there: "He (Weis) was very frightened and could hardly speak. My wife was in the room with me, and she ran down to the riverbank and begged us to hurry up. All this time we heard a voice crying ‘Oh! Oh! Oh!' it was repeated about a dozen times." O'Connell also said the boy told him "one of the girls wanted him to reach her his hand, and (then she) started back on the ice crying ‘Oh, Amanda! Amanda!' or something to that effect." O'Connell took a lantern and some rope and said he went out on the ice as far as he felt was safe and called out very loud but received no reply. He returned to shore and sounded the alarm and soon men "walked all over the ice…with lanterns and long poles searching for the tracks of the ladies."

At daybreak the next day, Thanksgiving, Percy Preston the girls' brother-in-law, and several others started searching again. A light dusting of snow covered the ice and almost obliterated the tracks made by the ladies the previous evening. However, they party of men were able to follow the tracks and about a quarter of the way across the river near the sand bar that ran out from the Third Street extension they found the hole in the ice. The hole was small and the ice surrounding it was weak and very dangerous and it did not appear that the ice had been disturbed and it certainly did not indicate to the men that two human beings could have fallen through. A number of footprints leading to and from the hole told the story. It was apparent that Julia had walked into the hole first and Amanda, becoming terror stricken left her and started for help. Seeing the boy, Weis, she hailed him and then returned to try to help her sister but she too fell through the ice.

The location of the hole was almost two hundred feet north of the path they intended to take. It was noted that there was "quite a current which has successfully resisted the cold weather and remained unfrozen." The girls' brother-in-law, Percy Preston found a package they had been carrying in water nearby confirming the location. That day over twenty-five men began the gruesome task of recovering the bodies. They cut the ice and began dragging the river. They reported that one or both of the bodies were "secured and dragged a considerable length, but unfortunately lost while the line was being drawn to the surface." A large crowd gathered to watch the recovery efforts and a special police force was called in to keep the crowd back. Late in the day a telegram was sent to Sabula to obtain the services of divers who had the equipment and knowledge to search under water.

The divers went into the water on Friday and "immediately upon getting to work, made a dive and ascertained the direct line of current. According to his direction holes were cut through the ice" and around five o'clock grappling hooks "first secured the body of Mrs. Chouteau." By then it was too dark to continue and so recovery operations were suspended until the next day.

The next morning around ten o'clock Amanda's body was recovered. Both sisters were taken to the home of their sister and brother-in-law, the Prestons, who lived at 145 W. 14th St.

Then began the discussions of what had happened. One of the divers said that the water where the ladies went in was "very shallow." Mrs. O'Connell said "I heard the poor girl (Julia) utter her last appeal for help several minutes after my husband left, and I think she must have been in the water holding onto the ice." It seems likely that the heavy clothing the ladies were wearing became water-logged and the weight would have been too much to allow them to crawl out of the icy cold water. Hypothermia would have set in and rendered them unconscious within fifteen to twenty minutes. If it had not been so dark O'Connell might have located their position and maybe a rescue could have been successful, however that must remain pure speculation. But it was a tragic accident that could have been prevented at several points as it played out to its fatal conclusion if someone had only spoken up.

The sisters were buried next to their mother Mary P. Gregoire, who had died nineteen months earlier on March 16, 1879 at age 66. Julia Chouteau's husband worked in Kansas City and her fourteen year old son attended St. Joseph (Loras) College.

Information provided by: Ron Seymour