Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1901-06-05

Philade1phia Picnic Five
Girls and Three Youth, 'Ieas-
ure Bono Went Over FL Dam
Only One Boy Escaped.
PhiladelnhiG.-A rowboa uinc
party OF eight young x,us was
swept over Flat Rock Dan n the
Schuylkill River. and seven O r ii ~
i've girls and two boys-were tlro, ed
The dead are:
FLORENCE Bond, aged seventeen Va rs:
Mary Sullivan. twenty YEAR, ~ I'D
A'utter' nineteen years: Mary r senn. ly,
hfteen years: Florence Dc nslr re.
htteen years: Bertram Osman1. niie-
teen years. and Leo Riker. twt nty-.iae
years. n
Inc party was composed O; n1embsrs
OF the elm Social Club. one of the. n.
merouS associations in this cif, Z C.
Sanized for the promotion OF pi cnis
ana other social gatherings The pet
sons that We're drowned. with a lare
number OF others, organized a picnie
They embarked In gayly-decot sate,
wagons early In the morning innc
pitched their camp at Rose Glen. along
the Schuylkill River, on the northern
outskirts of this city.
tollowing their usual custom the
party split up after dinner fo,. asrow
ON the river. This was shortly after 2
O'Clock. Boats were hired and two par
Ties set forth for an hours fun on The
river Heavy rains during the past
week had made the muddy stressl
quite high. and the current WAS mici
'swlfter than usual. but thosp ii nc
boat Immediately started out E0r' i'd
stream. H.
All the girls were huddled lie
stern. one of the boys was rowi I'd
another was sitting in the bow ie
boat. After getting in the mid Dc
the river and finding the cure 20
swift for comfort the boat was d
In toward shore. During this Il it
was carried slowly down stream
The hoy doing the rowing decid O
80 through the locks, and as b y
proacned the dam he Was hniieu IN
the lockkeeper and warned not I'd, ap
proach any closer. The warning was
not needed. and the young osrs3,an
Kept on rowing until ne found that the
lock was closed. Then he atte1np ted
TO turn the boat, wlIich was nhout Il St-y
feet from the dam and iwe1fx-fivc feeS
from shore, but he turned The wron,
way. s
y moment later the boat was II ~
swiftly moving current. Realizing
for the first time that they wer,
danger the girls began screaming.
Inc oarsman lost control of the b.
Swiftly 1t was carried toward
brink of the falling waters, and i,
as 1T reached the breast of the dan
over which thirty inches OF water wa
passing. the entire party stood up ana
the boat went over stern first.
The drop to the rocks below Is ap-
proXimately twelve feet The boat
struck the water bottom up. andsa ii.
disappeared the whole party was un-'
der 1t. Nothing more was seen by thS
few persons who witnessed the acct
dent for almost a minute. wnen the
boat reappeared with one boy clipging
to its keel. Then second boy was
seen to come to the surface and make
frantic effort toreach shore by swim
ming. The girls never rose to the suis
face. The boy who was swimming be-
came exhausted and sank before he
could be rescued
The other boy, who was clinginS to
the boat. foated fully half-mile down
the rive., and his rescuers had an ex-
citing time before they landed him IN
another boat. He was greatly ex-
hausted and was slightly injured By
the falling of the boat.