Georgie Cerny
CERNY, SUTTON
Posted By: Carrie Robertson (email)
Date: 12/24/2016 at 22:20:49
September 5, 1902 Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette
A DOUBLE DROWNING
IN MILL RACE LAST EVENING
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Georgie, 6-year-old Son of Mr. and Mrs. Anton Cerny, Fell From Dam Pier and was Drowned--Wm. Sutton Lost Life by Foohardy Exhibition
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Georgie, the six-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Anton Cerny, residing at Fifth street and Tenth avenue, fell from the west bulk-head of the dam at 5:45 last evening and was drowned in the presence of several small boys, none of whom could go to his rescue. They did manage to throw a fishpole within reach of the little child, but he was unable to grasp it, and the horrified children watched their comrade go down to death.
The news of the drowning spread quickly and scores of people lined the mill race and the bank below the Brown mill, where a large number of men, assisted by members of the police force, were looking for the body. Among those who were first to the scene of the accident was William Sutton, a young many about town, who threw off his coat and plunged into the raceway immediately below the bulkhead. He swam down under the approach to the B avenue bridge and under the foot bridge across the race, in the presence of probably a hundred men and women. Just below the footwalk he swam up to the bank where he was urged to come by Will Davis, who had come to the scene with a cork jacket, such are used at bathing beaches. Sutton's suspenders were thrown off his shoulders and the weight of his clothing appeared tiresome. Davis urged him repeatedly to fasten the cork jacket on if he intended to go back into the water, but Sutton was plainly under the influence of liquor and refused the offer, saying that he was not afraid of drowning. Without a word as to his intentions, Sutton suddenly plunged into the raceway and swam down with the current, turning from side to side and swimming "overhand". Swimming almost to the west side of the raceway, where a row of piling and planks turns the water under the mill, Sutton stopped and started back up stream, swimming on his back. Few if any in the constantly increasing throng of people realized that Sutton was in danger, although several parties had remarked to a representative of The Gazette that the man was "showing off" and that he would drown if he did not come out. In fact, two or three parties had called to Sutton, urging him to leave the water. Suddenly he was seen to throw his left had up, his head sank under the water, and before anyone could reach him or even throw a rope or plank he had gone down. A young man named Kenyon, who is employed in the mills plunged in and swam to the spot where Sutton had gone down, but the water was so deep that he could do nothing. Within a few seconds a boat was shoved into the raceway and members of the police force, with long grappling hooks, were working desperately to recover the body, but all without avail. Night closed in, and though the search continued energetically the body of the man could not be located. About 8 o'clock the body of the boy was found at the end of the race. It was tenderly removed to Beatty's undertaking rooms, where the grief-stricken father and other relatives identified the sweet-faced child. Up to that moment Mr. Cerny was not sure that his son had been drowned, although such a report had reached him about 7 o'clock, and he had come up to join the searching party. Mr. Cerny was mislead by the boy with whom his son had come up town, the lad telling him that his son was coming home "another way" and concealing the fact that the little one had been accidentally drowned.
As accurately as the story can be gathered, Georgie Cerny had come up to the dam to fish with a boy named Arthur Alt. Jerking his line from the water quickly the little fellow lost the "bobber" and stooped to reach for it, losing his balance and falling into the stream. Older boys threw his pole to him, but fright or cramps prevented him from grasping the one object that might have saved his life.
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