The Whitefish pilot. [volume] (Whitefish, Mont.) 1904-current, 1911-01-26


shocked Sunday afternoon when the
news, which spread like wild fire,
announced that Miss Grace Robinson
and Joseph Cavanaugh, two Of
Whitefish's most popular young pcc-
pie had skated into q hole in tie
ice out in the middle of the lake
and had been drowned.
The only Cncs who were near at
the time were several small boys
who were playing tag, but they cid
not knew that anything was wrong
until they heard Nh. Cavanaugh s
cries for help and saw them both
struggling in tie water.
Arthur Edmonds, one Of the boys,
stated that he was only a short dis
tancc eff when he heard Joe cry
out fcr help, and seeing the pre-
dicament they were in he became
very much frightened He had no
way CT aiding them and thought it
best to go for assistance and skat-
ed down the lake as fast as he could
to tell q number of men, but when
they arrived at the scene both had
gone down and only Joe's cap was
left floating on a cake Of ice to
mark the tragic spot.
Wilfred Phipps, another Of the
boys who was lear, was unable to
render any assistance and skated
to shore with all speed and secured
long pole, but it was mile to
shore and when he got back it was
too late. The ice was so thin that
none CT the boys could get close
enough to render any assistance and
there was nothing near that they
could throw to them. 1t is said
that Joe struggled bravely, and
tried to hold Miss Robinson up, but
tie ice was SO thin that he could
get no hold, it kept breaking under
his weight, SO it was but a very
short time that they both sank from
view into the depths of the icy wa
ters and did not rise again.
AS soon as possible the news of
the accident was telephoned to
town and large number of men
were at the scene with couple of
boats, axes and rope, but no one
seemed to know how TO cope with
the situation and were at loss
70 know how to go about it to re-
cover the bodies until l. B. Will
cughby arrived with the graphing
hook and lines that he had used last
sumner to recover the bodies of two
tcilors that were drowned on July
4. He took charge of the situation
and with the assistance of the 9TH
ers large channel was cut in the
ice, where the two unfortunates
had gone through, and the crap
p'ing hooks were 'eI down and
dragged back and forth over the
bottom. After two hours of hard
labor in the icy waters the hook
caught in the clothing on Miss Rob-
inson's body and it was brought to
tho surface to the great relief of
the grief striker father and broth
er who We're aiding in the search
Tho only available conveyance ct
land wcs a hand sled, so the body
was strapped On this and taken to
tho home where the anxious moth
cr YES waiting almost frantic with
grief. In hopes that there might
still be spark of life left an ef-
fort was made to revive it but the
chilly waters had done their work
and she had passed beyond recall
After Miss Robinson had been re-
covered the search was con-
tinuod, as hopes were entertained
that the body of Mr.. Cavanaugh
would be caught in the hooks, but
it grew so dark and cold that it was
impossible to do anything to advan-
tage and the search was Abandoned
until morning. Early Monday morn
ing, Mr.. Willoughby and dozer
others to assist, resumed the work
again and after dragging the bot
tom for about three hours the,
We're rewarded by having the hook:
catch secure hold in the clothin,
on the body. after which it wa
easily raised to the surface an,
brought to town about noon time
1t was a great relief to friends an,