Lawrence Jones Drowns
1915
TRANSCRIBED BY : TINA EASLEY
http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ar/county/greene/
FROM THE WEEKLY SOLIPHONE
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JUNE 25, 1915 - FRIDAY
YOUTH IS DROWNED IN BRIGHTON DITCH
LAWRENCE JONES , SON JOHN JONES , LOST LIFE YESTERDAY AFTERNOON BODY RECOVERED
LAWRENCE JONES AGED ABOUT 18 YEARS SON OF MR. AND MRS. JOHN JONES RESIDING ON BOWLAND ISLAND , NEAR BRIGHTON , WAS DROWNED ABOUT TWELVE THIRTY YESTERDAY AFTERNOON IN WHAT IS KNOWN AS THE BRIGHTON DITCH , AT A POINT ABOUT ONE QUARTER OF A MILE SOUTH OF THE TRESTLE .
THE DITCH WAS FULL OF WATER AND AT THE POINT WHERE THE LAD WAS DROWNED IT WAS BETWEEN FIFTY AND SEVENTY-FIVE FEET WIDE. YOUN JONES , IN COMPANY WITH SEVERAL BOYS FROM HIS NEIGHBORHOOD WAS IN BATHING IN THE DITCH. HE WAS NOT A PRACTICED SWIMMER AND HENCE HAD NOT VENTURED VERY FAR FROM THE SHORE. HIS COMPANIONS THINK HE BECAME FRIGHTENED IN SOME MANNER , PROBABLY LOSING CONFIDENCE IN HIMSELF. AT ANY RATE , THEY OBSERVED HIM STRUGGLING IN WATER NOT MUCH OVER HIS HEAD.
ONE BOY ATTEMPTED TO RESCUE HIM . JONES HELT TO THE LADS FOOT AND CAME NEAR PULLING HIM OUT INTO THE STREAM. ANOTHER OF THE BOYS WHO SOUGHT TO SAVE JONES WAS ALSO PULLED A SHORT DISTANCE INTO THE STREAM .
YOUNG JONES , EVIDENTLY LOSING CONSCIOUSNESS , FINALLY LOOSENED HIS HOLD UPON HIS COMPANION'S FOOT AND WAS SEEN NO MORE. SEARCHING PARTIES SOON BEGAN DIVING AND DRAGGING FOR THE BODY AND AT SEVEN O'CLOCK YESTERDAY EVENING THEY RECOVERED IT .