ENTIRE FAMILY ALMOST DROWNED

ATTEMPTING TO SAVE LITTLE CHILD

Coroner Morris returned Sunday from Mt. Carmel, where he held the inquest Saturday afternoon on the body of Charlie, the five-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Mark Adams, who drowned Saturday morning in backwater within thirty feet of the door at their home three and one half miles south of East Mt. Carmel, in Gibson county. The body was brought to Mt. Carmel on a launch in order to facilitate the coroner’s work.

Other members of the family came near losing their lives in the efforts to rescue the child. The house though on a knoll, stood in two feet of water, the back yard sloping down to deep water. The 18-year-old daughter, Flora, with a baby on the seat I nfront of her and Charlie sitting in the end of the boat back of her, was rowing back from a point some distance out where Charlie had found a bird’s nest several days before.

Struck a Post.

They were within thirty feet of the house when the boat struck a fence post, which the girl did not see, her back being toward it. The boat was given a hard jolt and the baby fell off the seat in front of Flora, crying. She picked it up and did not notice the other child had been knocked from the boat. When she did turn around she saw the little boy’s head just coming up, and she screamed and made a grab for him. The parents heard the scream and both rushed to the door. The father plunged into the water, and just as he was near the child, the mother plunged in almost on top of him. He lost his footing in the deep water, then around his shoulders, and at the same time had to grasp his wife to save her. He made one last reach for the little boy as he went under for the last time, but the odds were against him and his reach failed.

Parents Struggle for Life.

Then it was life or death for himself and wife, and in his struggle to save her both almost lost their lives. Meantime the girl also had plunged into the water and in the excitement she does not remember how she got out. She was panic-stricken, it appears.

The body of the child was rescued by neighbors, William Gabbert and Fred Hertling, who caught it with a long pole. The burial took place at Sand Hill cemetery Sunday afternoon. The family had only recently moved to the farm from Mt. Carmel.

Almost Drowned Day Before.

The little victim had a narrow escape from losing his life Friday. He was playing on a step at the rear of the house, when the step broke, letting him into the water. It was with much difficulty that he was rescued the, but the accident seemed to give him no fear of the water, and the next day, with childish glee, he went on the water again and to his death.