The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1883-04-24
ACCIDENTALLY DROWNED
Tho Terrible Fate Which Befell
Little Johnny Mcbride
Last Evening.

A terrible calamity fell upon Mr.. and
Mrs. James Mcbride, who reside on Sum-
init, between Fifth and Sixth streets, in
East Sedslia, about half past five o'clock
vest. rday afternoon. Mr.. Nc Bride
is employed as brake
man on the middle division of the
Missouri Pacific, and was out on his run
at the time, hut his wife was at nome.
But few feet from the kitchen door is
q well some sixteen feet deep, in which
there is four or five feet of wafer. There is
neither windlass nor pulley used in drawing
water, a rope and bucket answering The
purpose. Instead of the usual high curb
ing around The well, there is a small
frame v all. probably eighteen inches high,
covered by a door secured with leather
hinges. One of these hinges had become
broken, and no longer answered its pur-
pose, and by pressing upon the covering,
leaving the we'll exposed.
On two occasions yesterday Mrs. Nc
Bride noticed her little three year-old son,
Johnny, playing about the well, and both
times she led HIM away, telling him he was
in danger of falling in and being drowned.
About half-rast o'clock, while she was
employed in the kitchen, the child again
made its way to the curbing, and pressing
On the covering, pitched head foremost
down int the water.
Mn. McBIide had her attention called
TO the noise occasioned by the fall, and
fastening to the we'll saw her darling at
the bottom. Her cries at
tracted the attention Of neighbors,
and several of them ut once ran to the res
cue of the child. The grief of the mother
was truly distressing, and it was with diff
6culty she was restrained from jumping in
after the boy.
Of course all was excitement, and prob
ably Eve mfnutes had elapsed before rope
was fastened around the body Of a small
boy named Frank Costan, who was lowered
into the we'll. The child had disappeared
from view and young Cestan was COM
PEELED to dive for him He at last brought
him to the surface and with the babe in
his arms he was drawn upward.
Instantly little Johnny was conveyed
into the house, when his clothing was re-
moved. He was unconscious. but hopes of
resuscitati0n were entertained. Drs Bron-
son and Soils arrived soon thereafter, but
they at once reached the conclusion that
there was no hope, and so informed the
.gonized mother. They applied every rem
edy known to medical skill to bring
about artificial respiration, but to no pur-
pose, for the spirit of the little one had
taken its fight to its Maker.
The scene was one that beggars dsscrip.
ton. The poor mother walked the floor
and called the name of her darling, and
then ssnk into . chair in an unconscious
condition. Restofatives we're applied, how
ever. and within q few minutes she was
conscious, but completely FRUSTRATED. Her
husband has been i'll for several weeks,
and Mrs. Mcbride said she feared the sad
news would again throw him on q bed of
sickness.
The doomed child was as handsome rs q
painting, and was fairly idolised by its
pa snts. Its eyes were of the deepest blue,
while its hair hung in golden curls over
its forehead, making the picture one of real
beauty,
Coroner Oveutreet was notified, but did
not deem an inquest necessary.