Britt
BRITT, Edgar and Allen (Roy Edward "Edgar" Britt and William Allen Britt)
From "The Iola Register", Saturday, 29 JUL 1916
Submitted by Ilene Serl Jones
" TWO DROWNED IN ABANDONED POOL
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Edgar Britt, 8 years old, encountered a "step-off"
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ALLEN BRITT DIED TODAY
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Allen Britt attempted to rescue Edgar from Water
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Both Were Burned by Acid in Stagnant Pool -- Pulmotor Used for Hours in Futile Effort at Resusitation.
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"It was extermely hot and dusty as Van Britt and his father drove into Iola late yesterday afternoon from western Kansas where they had been during the harvest. They were on their way here to visit a brother who lives at 410 North Fourth street.
"As they passed an abandoned pool of water, formerly on the property known as the zinc works, eastof Claiborne's mill, in east Iola, Allen Britt, aged 10 and Edgar Britt aged 8, suggested a plunge.
"The two lads disrobed and waded out into the pool, which really is a basement some 10 feet deep. They walked along a ledge of brick and suddenly, Edgar, the younger, encountered a step-off. He dropped into water of the depth of about ten feet and disapeared. When he did not rise to the surface within a few minutes, his brother became alarmed and dived several times. His cries finally brought help to the scene and Edgar's body was taken from the pool.
"The boy had been under water about twenty minutes when rescued. He was taken to a point near the mill and the pulmotor called. Chief Creason applied the resusitating apparatus and with a physician worked four hours with the lad. At times, there seemed hope that the boy would recover. His pulse had been started and he gave some promise of normal respiration. Suddenly, however, he sank away and did not again respond to treatment.
"Allen Britt, who was injured in attempting to effect the rescue of his brother, was taken to the Sutcliffe sanitarium where at 3:30 this afternoon he was reported to be dying.
"While Chief Creason and his men were endeavoring to assist in the resuscitation of young Britt, a fire alarm was turned in. The firemen were out of reach of a telephone and a motor car was sent to take the call to them. Chief Creason sent Assistant Chief Turley to the scene of the fire, 218 North Elm Street, the home of M. Robertson, a junk buyer, where a barn was burning. Two burros and a shetland pony were consumed in the fire which had gained too great a headway to be controlled.
"The firemen never leave the station without a man on watch, except on pulmotor calls. On such occasions, the firemen accompany Chief Creason to give him assistance in adjusting the pulmotor to the patient. This done, the firemen return to the station leaving the chief to operate the life-saving device. It happened yesterday that the fire alarm came just as the firemen arrived at the zinc works pool. The call for the pulmotor at 4:15 was followed quickly by the call for the firemen at 4:30.
"The work of the firemen at the fire and with the pulmotor was rapid and efficient.
"Allen Britt died of burns from the acid in the water this afternoon at the Sanitarium where he had been taken for treatment.
"Funeral services will be held at the home of Mr. Britt's brother-in-law at 4:30 Sunday afternoon, the residence being the first house the other side of the railroad, on North Fourth.
"The Britt family came from Emporia here just recently."
(Both Edgar and Allen are buried unmarked in the Highland Cemetery, Iola, KS.)
Dewey, Oklahoma