Allen, Clarence 1881-1895

ALLEN

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 1/31/2005 at 17:58:52

Clarence Allen, the fourteen-year-old son of E. Allen, was seized with a cramp and was drowned while in swimming in the T. H. pond, Thursday afternoon about 4 o'clock.

Several boys were playing in and about the water, Clarence Allen and Roy Byers being in the pond about 40 feet from the north and 10 feet from the east bank, where the water is fully 7 feet deep. Roy says he heard one of the boys on the bank cry out to look at Clarence, who had disappeared under the water with one arm sticking up, as though he had let down to test the depth. A second later the arm and hand went under and the boys became frightened. They ran up to the powerhouse a few rods away and gave the alarm. Frank Baker, the fireman at the T. H. plant, and a R. I. R. R. bridge carpenter, who was working near by, rushed down to the pond and plunged in without stopping to take off their clothing. But it was too late. Clarence's dead body lay at the bottom of the pond, until it was fished out a little later by the two men mentioned, assisted by Atwell Spencer, by means of a long iron poker from the electric light plant. He had been taken with a cramp and had sunk, without warning, like so much lead.

The report of the accident spread rapidly and a large crowd gathered at the pond in a short time. When the body was recovered it was taken at once to the home of the grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Allen. The boy's father, E. Allen, is living at Kirksville, Mo. The funeral services will be held tomorrow, Saturday afternoon, at the house.

Clarence was a bright, manly little fellow, the idol of his devoted and now grief stricken grandparents. The boys had been warned away from the pond repeatedly, but boy like persisted in playing in the water, attracted by the spice of danger. The pond should be so fenced up as to make it inaccessible. It was a very sad accident, and much sympathy is expressed for Mr. and Mrs. Allen, the aged grandparents. ~ The Newton Record, Friday, June 21, 1895, Page 1, Column 6