Omaha daily bee., 1916-07-31
RIVER FAILS u
GIVE Up
OF VICTIMS
One Survivor of Six in Auto
Which Plunges Into the
Missouri River.
DECEITFUL ROAD CAUSE
Driver Does Not Realize Dan
ger Until Too Late to
Stop the Car.
AUTO PULLED FROM RIVER
DECEITFUL ROAD CAUSE
AUTO PULLED FROM RIVER


One moment they were bowling
merrily along on quiet country road
in an auto, their arms around their
loved ones, singing lifting love songs
to the accompaniment Of Ukaleles.
Kindly stars beamed down upon two
young married couples and two of
their friends, wwho motored with
them on weekend picnic.
The next minute, half uttered cry
of horror that died on fear paralyzed
lips-a splash-and Thomas Swift
u, manger of the Brandeis stores
music department found himself alone
on an abrupt bank of the Missouri
river, soon after midnight Saturday.
Somewhere in the muddy waters that
swished and whirled below him, his
young wife and his friends had sud
denly met their doom.
This happened at / As o'clock Sum-
day morning, mile and half east of
La Platte, Neb. Their bodies have
been recovered.
Five Are Drowned.
The dead:
MRS. THOMAS SWIFT, sS, employed in
Brandeis music department, and living at
the Rivard hotel.
MRS. EARL LETNER. employed in
ing at 521 South Eighteenth. 'N
EARL LETNER. Schmoeller & Moeller
piano salesman. living at 52l South Eight
zenith.
HAROLD LARSON, musician, aged 49,,
living at Lincoln. Neb
MISS GRACE SNYDER. 49, stenographer
employed by Lumber, architect in Keeline
building.
Of the six who set out early Satur-
day evening for a picnic party at any
convenient spot along the Platte
river, only one remained alive to tell
the story.
Swift Tells His Story.
A few hours later Swift, sitting in
an auto, while hundreds of men
dragged the river for the bodies, told
the story.
I'VE were lost, but thought we were
on the road towards the Platte river.
The road we were on was such a. nice
one. The girls were singing. We were
all supremely happy. Suddenly we
saw the river loom up ahead of US.
The next instant, | saw we were on
the very brink of sharp embank-
ment. jumped and tried to pull Mrs.
Swift with me, but it was to olate. |
was thrown clear and hung with my
head over the bank, looking straight
down into the yellow water. The ma
chine sank from sight with a single
splash. The water boiled for a min
ute and then everything was quiet 1t
all occurred so suddenly | could not
realize what had happened
Paralyzed for Moment.
81 lay that way for possibly mo-
ment. Then it came to me. Ny wife
May-she was drowned. And so was
Mr.. and Mrs. Letner and Harold
Larson and Grace Snyder. l tried to
scream for help, but my throat was
Raralyzed and for while | could not
utter sound. Finally did yell. After
that, don't remember just what
did happen"
/ He fell back in the machine, ex-
hausted, and his brother tried to con-
sole him.
The road upon which the ill-starred
party met their untimely fate is par
ticularly dangerous. 1t is deceit
fully pretty sand road, looking for all
the world like heavily Travelled thor
oughfare. 1t ends sharply on the bank
of the Missouri, twenty feet below
with the water depth estimated al
somewhere near thirty feet, and a
twenty-five mile current cut up by
eddys and whirlpools.
Unguarded Danger.
Even in the daytime one must ap,
proach within a dozen feet before be,
coming aware of the unguarded dan,
ger below. The place where the trag.
edy occurred is particularly wild
spot along the banks of the river.
Riprapping installed on the Iowa
side half a dozen miles above shoots
the water across with terrific force
causing it to cut like knife into
the soft earth on the opposite shore
A year ago, the road stretched mile
and half farther east, and was then
as now, an unguarded, deceitful pas
sage that wound up sharply at the
river edge. Inside of year the
water has cut off mile and hall
of land, stretching for several miles
up and down. Land owners have los,
hundreds of acres in this way.
Machine Pulled Out.
While a big crowd of men led by
Officer Charles Chapman OF the
Omaha central police station and the
sheriff of Sarpy county, cast drag
hooks for the bodies and were pull
ing the machine, which had been sue.
cessfully hooked out, on dry land, big
mountains of earth, some of them
weighing many tons, would suddenly
break loose, totter for a moment, and
then fall crashing like an avalanche
into the boiling river. 1t was a
dangerous business, for the men were
compelled to stand on the sharp bank
while the water beneath undermined
it. AT any moment they might have
gone tumbling into the water with
the very ground upon which they
stood. And in that water, no man
I