Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1870-04-22
Child Drowned in Bethel.
HEROIC ATTEMPT AT RESCUE.

HEROIC ATTEMPT AT RESCUE.
The Burlington Free Press gives the
particulars of the drowning of Eddie
Newton, aged five years, son Of Levi
Newton, in Bethel, ON Wednesday of
last week. He was playing with sever
al other children just above the high
way bridge on the side of the branch
opposite the village, when by some acct
dent he fell into the water. Fifty feet
below the bridge the water pours over a
high dam among the rocks and surges
below, tumbles along for another hun
dred feet, leaps second dam higher
than the first, and sweeps down under
and beyond the railroad bridge for two
hundred yards perfect cataract. When
the cry eddie Newton is drowning"
came up from the boys on the bank, Ed
ward Burnett, a young man of eighteen,
was sitting on the stone steps at the OPP
posite end of the bridge. He immedi-
ately hurried across, and though the
child was already within fifty feet of the
dam, stripped off his coat and plunged
boldly into the river. The child was
twelve or fifteen feet from the shore
The rescuer swan out, clasped him,
raised him from beneath the water, and
was turning toward the bank when both
were flung head foremost over the dam,
into the kissing vortex below. Quite
crowd had gathered by this time, and
every eye was strained to pierce the
foam but not sign ofthe victims could
be seen for perhaps minute and a half,
when young Burnett was seen drawing
himself out of the water by some bushes
fifty rods below. He was severely bruis-
ed, and has been confined to his bed since
the adventure, but no bones were broken
and he is rapidly recovering.
The body of the child has not been
found, though neighbors volunteered and
searched the branch and even the river
to its mouth. Little Eddie was uni
versal favorite, and the overwhelming
grief of his parents is shared by the
whole village.
Too much credit can not be given to
the bold youth who gave such fearful
odds to death for the chance of saving
the little boy. The universal opinion is
that not one in hundred could pass
down that jagged torrent bed and come
ont alive. His own account of the adj
venture will be of interest. He says:
" When I turned back / did not think
| was so near the dam till / felt myself
going over it. / was holding the child
out of the water before me, and my i'm
preston is that he struck the rock and
| fell upon him. lost hold of him at
the first fall. Here my foot caught in
snag, and thought must be held there
to drown, but managed to struggle away
from it. l saw no light between the
dams, but held my breath and went
spinning along over the lower dam. /
was conscious every instant, and now be-
gan to feel that | must draw in my
breath, though knew it was death to
do SO. But just at that instant by the
strangest good fortune l was thrown to
the top of the water, and got glorious
breath of air before | was again swept
under. 1t came just in time to save me,
and was the only breath / got during
the whole time that was going down.
When / was almost exhausted clutched
something in the water it was a bush,
and drew me to the top, but was so
weak and the current so strong that
l could not hold it, but the next instant
/ caught another, and exereing all my
strength drew myself on shore"