The Billings gazette., 1903-05-15
TRAGIC END COMES TO soYIsH
PRANK.
COULD GIVE NO ASSISTANCE
Distracted Companions Of Unfortunate
Youth Stand Helpless While
Death overtakes Him.

| A sad ending marked the frolic OF
a lot OF boys who took advantage OF
the holiday given the pupils of the
| public schools of the city last Tues.
! day to take an outing along the banks
of>the Yellowstone south OF town.
Notwithstanding that the water OF
the river is still quite cold number
Of the boys separated themselves
from the larger crowds and going to
a point short distance above the
dam OF the Coulson irrigating canal
went swimming. Among them were
Tommy Bouton, aged 10 years, and
Ralph Kain, who was about seven
years older At the place selected
a rude raft composed OF two or three
logs and six or seven feet long was
in the river. On this the boys named
decided to take a ride. Young Bou-
ton, who is an expert swimmer for
one of his age, got onto the forward
or bow end of the raft, while Kahn
remained at the other end and attempt
ed to push the raft from the shore to
a place where pole was to be seen
which the boys wanted to use to pro-
pei themselves along. The raft be-
gan to move quite rapidly with the
current toward the dam. When Tom
my saw this he called to his compan-
ion that he was afraid the raft would
go through one of the large holes in
the dam. He said subsequently he
had been afraid that they would be
sucked into the whirlpool which the
water running over the dam forms
at the foot of it. This seemed to have
said to have let go of the raft, which
by this time had reached a place
where the water was considerably
over his head. At about the same time
young Bouton dove from the raft and
started to swim to shore, from which
he was quite distance. The other
boy seemingly made an attempt to
again secure a hold on the raft, but
failed. He was unable to swim and
almost instantly sank, but came to
the surface again. Three or four times
he sank, the last time to remain at
the bottom of the stream
Meanwhile Tommy had reached the
shore in safety and some of the other
boys asked him to go back into the
water and try and save his compan-
ion. He was afraid to do So being
fearful that he would drown. Because
OF their youthfulness the other boys
were unable to give any assistance
to their drowning companion or to
advise him what to do. In their
excitement some of them threw chips
and bits of wood to him.
The above is the story OF the acci-
dent as related by Tommy Bouton to
the coroner's jury which was empan-
nelled and made an inquiry into the
occurrence Wednesday morning. In
telling the particulars the boy said
that Ralph did not speak once, but
made a moaning sound when he went
down the first time, as though trying
to speak. He said that young Kain
seemed to sink in about the exact
place where he let go of the raft and
that the only movement he made was
to move his hands above the water
a few times.
While he was not quite sure as to
the time of the accident, Tommy said
he thought it was somewhere near 3 |
o'clock. Among the boys who remain
ed on the shore while the two entered
the water was brother of Ralph,
a lad about IL years of age.
While some OF. the boys fastened
further up the stream where some
older persons were, another started
to come to town. Those near the
place of the accident could do nothing
and remained helplessly by the side
of the river. The boy who was COM
ing to the city met lady in buggy
to whom he told what had occurred.
She hastily drove him to the city and
informed Mayor Foster. The latter
with several other persons fastened
to the place, while the alarm was
quickly spread and soon large num-
ber were hurrying to the river.
Among those who went were Walter |