Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1913-05-29
JAMES RIVER

sfng he
EIMfon ed what it was for. The
{owa srappling hooks we're used
thebodies to the surface,
sag = of the girls who lost their
HATS :; as follows: Bernice Rip
saiE 81 laudia Ripley 16, and Ma.
sEI :hie Is. All three were
ha lurch''s Ferry, N. D. Claudia
Sa!A NJ &e, were attending St, Johns
ssIee' wand Bernice had only re-
tkTN.d > Ahe city last Saturday, af-
teF ths lose, Of her school near Mel
vile. The parents of the children
were notified as soon as possible of
tbs sad affair, and we're brought to
tn, city a few hours afterwards.
Mr.. Ripley lives two miles from Ell
bridge, and John. Matchie north of
Spiritwood.
Last summer the girls had been
in the habit of going to the river for
bathing, and the water then was
lower than at present. The river
now is considerably higher on ac-
count of the closing of the gates of
the dam, and the girls were evident
ly unfamiliar with the shore at this
time, although they had safely in
dulged in bathing at the same place
last year.
Funeral Rites.
The funeral of Claudia and Bernice
RIPLEY and Mamie Matchie was held
Wednesday morning at 9 o'clock at
st. James Catholic church. The
church was crowded far beyond it's
seating capacity, with residents of
jamestown and from the surround
ing country. Many of the towns of
the county sent delegates to attend
the funeral, the unusually sad cir
cumstances of the deaths of the three
young girls having attracted wide
spread attention and enlisted the
sympathies of hundreds who were
.unacquainted with them.
The three caskets lay in front of
the Rtar, and single rose lay upon
TN ssxain of each of the victims; but
on the altar and railing were
banked piles of beautiful floral offer
ings sent from jamestown, Bemidji,
Devils Lake, and other places where
friends and relatives resided. Sol
emn requiem high mass was cele-
brated by Father Kelley, assited by
Father Schimmel of Fargo, Father
Olzeweski of Fried, Rev. Hart of
Darlington, and Father Geraghty of
this city. There was music by the
church choir.
The pail bearers were D. Brock
man, L. Niemeyer, NJ. Murphy, c. A..
Klaus, Chas. Kurth, and Gerard
Lieber. In addition there was an
escort of young girls as honorary
pail bearers, dressed in white, wear
ing long wells.
The pallbearers for Claudia were
Alice MCGOWAN, Madaline Canan,
Edna McDermott, Frances Glass,
Louise and Frances Wright. For
Bernice, Irene Boyle, Virginia Beach,
Muriel Canan, Margaret Mutz, Helen
Lieber and Doris Fraser. For Ma
mie, Margaret Blewett, Emily Par
kinson, Lena Hamm, Margaret
Fischer, Jessie Romer and Mildred
Canan. ..
Before the funeral at the church
the members of the Academy high
school and pail bearers marched from
the Academy to the Matchie resi-
dence and escorted the three caskets
to the church, forming two lines on
either side.
There were three hearses, and at
the Calvary cemetery all three Of
the bodies were buried in one grave.
The procession to the cemetery was
one of the longest ever known In the
county. An escort of the members
of St. Agnes Sodality of which the
two older girls were members. and
the St. Aloysius sodality, marched to
the Mill bridge, standing on either
side as the procession went by.
At the request of the mayor of the
city, the business houses closed for
one hour in the morning, as a trib-
ute to the memory of the three VIC
tins of the terrible accident. AS
the long procession fled past the
Russell-Miller mill, the machinery
was stopped and the employees ap-
peared bare headed in front Of the
structure.
There were a number from out
side to attend the funeral, among
them being Sisters Benedict and
Martha from Bemidji. Mimi; Miss
Gertrude Monek of the state univer-
sity at Grand Forks; Tom Matchie
of Richardton, N. d.; John Kuder-
man and Matt RIPLEY of Devils
Lake, all being relatives Of the dead
girls.