The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1921-07-28
Albert Gastri browns in
Shallow Water at Plea
lsure-Place.
BOYS WITNESS MISHAP
-Four Youngsters Watch Help
lessly While Companion Goes
Down for Third Time.

Death continued to take toll from
Kenosha's toddlers Monday evening
when Albert Gastri, the fve-year-ol1
son of Mr.. and Mrs. Cesto Gastri, 3fe
Westcott street, was drowned in the
shallow pond at Anderson Park. The
boy, never venturesome before, had
strayed away from his home and was
playing with four companions Of about
his own age when the fatal mishap
occurred.
According to their story the sturdy
little youngster, carefully dressed for
the afternoon but barefooted, wedea
into the pond and sank almost without
struggle a few yards from the shore.
Terrified they ran to the cafe where
Andrew Anderson, the proprietor, was
talking to Joe VanPatten and Robert
Irving. To the men they insisted that
"a boy was drowning down there" and
that someone ought to pull him out"
Not a Ripple on the Pend.
Arrived at the pond, Anderson and
his customers found no evidence of any
accident. There was not so much as
ripple on the surface of the pond They
more dreaming than drowning" and
started back to the cafe when one of
the youngsters began to cry and to say,
Gle had on a white shirt-waist and
was playing with some sticks right
out there"
The information seemed so definite
that VanPatten and Irving, armed with
a rake, jumped into a boat and rowed
out to the spot where the excited boys
insisted someone had drowned. The
first drag brought up the little fodder
in the white shirt-waist with the sticks
still in his hand.
The men carried him to the shore
and applied first aid treatment i'm
mediately. Mr.. Anderson called the Pc
lice-ambulance, which arrived in record
time The pulmotor, rather amateur
ishly used, failed to revive the boy,
who was pronounced dead q half hour
later by DR.. Christofferson. As yet his
identity had been unestablished the
boys knew only that his name was Sal
bert.
Mother PROSTATE with Grief.
After the victim had been taken to
the Hansen mortuary on Park avenue,
one of his companions reported the ac-
cident to his mother. The woman,
knowing that "Albert" was the FIVE
year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Gastri,
gave the officers the address Of his
parents, who were Immediately inform
ed of the tragedy. Mr.. Gastri, motor
man on one Of the city cars, bravely
survived the shock of the accident, but
his wife, a frail little woman, was left
hysterical with grief. For hours she
called for the boy and refused to be-
lieve that he was actually dead and
would not answer her call.
Following the drowning there has
risen considerable agitation concerning
the pond at Anderson Park It is held
that the place is safe enough but not
for unchaperoned children. Mr.. An
derson is not held in any way respOn-
sible either for. the tragedy or for the
near-tragedy which occurred in the
same pond within the last month; new
ertheless it is felt that the place should
be roped and. watched if It is to CON
tinue to be a playground for toddlers.
Funeral services for the drowned boy
will be held Wednesday morning at the
Holy Rosary church with burial in the
St! George cemetery.