NICOSON, Mary Elizabeth - Putnam

A diver from St. Louis, using a deep sea diving outfit this afternoon went down at the scene of the drowning of Miss Mary Nicoson near Oak Hill Park but was unable to locate the victim’s body which has been the object of a continuous search since the drowning Monday evening.  This lends strength to the theory that the body was buried when storms caused the banks of the pool in which the girl was drowned in a cave-in late Monday night.    --- transcribed by  kbz

Searchers today continued their efforts to locate the body of Mary Nicoson, 16 year old Brazil school girl who was drowned in Big Walnut creek near the Oak Hill Park on the National Road west of here late Monday evening.  In the meantime in the little home of Mr. and Mrs. John Nicoson, the dead girl’s parents on Tennessee street in Brazil, black despair prevailed and the father and mother were prostrated with grief.  Besides the parents two sisters and three brothers survive.  Mr. Nicoson had the tragedy brought home to him in a sudden and unexpected way Monday night when he was returning home from Indianapolis where he had been visiting a daughter who is in a hospital and attracted by a number of cars parked at Oak Hill stopped to enquire what was wrong.  When told that a girl, his daughter had been drown in the pool he was prostrated.  Hundreds of curious today continued to throng the banks of Big Walnut near the 35’ hole, where the girl sank, although little effort was being made to recover the body as nearly every known means has been exhausted.  Diving suits which were expected to be sent from Indianapolis had not arrived late today.  It is said that they had been sent to an Ohio town before the call for them came from here.  It was feared here today that the body would never be recovered on account of caving gravel banks due to flood water.  It is thought that the body was completely buried when the banks caved in during a heavy rainstorm which followed the drowning.  Miss Nicoson had gone to the pool which is an abandoned gravel pit with Mr. and Mrs. John Gray of Brazil Monday evening and was drowned when she went out into the pool beyond her depth.  Efforts of Mr. Gray to rescue her were futile.  Heavy drags from Terre Haute were used to drag the stream all day yesterday but no trace of the body was found and a number of efforts to reach the bottom of the pool failed.  A diver was able to go to the bottom a few times but because of the pressure could not stay down long enough to make a search for the body.  A crowd estimated at 2,000 persons had gathred at the scene of the drowning late Tuesday and traffic on the National Road was blocked until it was opened by sheriff Alva Bryan and State Police.  The tragedy at Oak Hill Park has caused considerable talk among Greencastle persons concerning the dangers of swimming at the Crowe’s Bridge pool.  The pool is similar to the one in which Miss Nicoson was drowned both are abandoned gravel pits and both are about 30 to 40 feet in depth.    --- transcribed by  kbz

The body of Mary Nicoson, 16 year old Brazil school girl, who was drowned in Big Walnut Creek late Monday near Oak Hill park was recovered about 2:30 o’clock this afternoon by a party of searchers  reports from Reelsville indicated late this afternoon.  The body was recovered about 1 mile down stream from the scene of the drowning it was said.  It was reported that it had washed up against some drift wood.  The body will be viewed by county coroner Frank Reed of Cloverdale before it is sent to Brazil for burial according to the report.  The names of the men who made the discovery could not be learned but they were a number of a party from Brazil.  Attempts to recover the body of Miss Mary Nicoson, 16 year old Brazil school girl who was drowned in Big Walnut Creek near Oak Hill Park on the National Road west of here late Monday were renewed by a part of about 12 Brazil men.  The men denied a report that they intended to abandon the search.  One of the leaders said that the stream for 10 miles below the scene of the drowning would be thoroughly searched unless the body was recovered.  Hundreds of curious today and last night continued to visit the scene. They are coming from all parts of the state.  Six state highway policemen remained on duty night and day directing traffic and prevent a blocking of the national road.  Rise of Big Walnut Creek early Tuesday following storms Monday night and Tuesday morning caused many tons of gravel to wash and cave-in the 35’ hole where the girl sank.  It was the belief of many that the body was buried to a depth of several feet.  A gravel bucket may later be used to drag the hole after the water recedes.  Charges of dynamite and drags and pike poles have been employed by the searchers without avail.  A heavy drag was in ___ again today and searchers were busy clearing the hole of drift wood and sediment.  Miss Nichson sank Monday night shortly after 8 o’clock while in swimming with Mr. and Mrs. John Gray, neighbors with whom she had gone to the creek.  Gray and the girls are said to have gotten into deep water when the girl disappeared after taking Gray under the water strangling him.    --- transcribed by  kbz

Mary Elizabeth Nicoson born 8 Nov 1914 Brazil, Clay County Indiana died 22 June 1931 Brazil, Clay County, Indiana daughter of John Nicoson and Elizabeth Bolter     --- transcribed by  kbz

A wave of relief spread over the little home of Mr. and Mrs. John Nicoson on Tennessee street om Brazil today, when the body of their daughter was returned to their home,  following the finding yesterday afternoon after a continuous three day search of Big Walnut creek, where she drowned. While the father and mother were prostrated with grief at the untimely death of their daughter, Miss Mary Nicoson the terrible suspense that they have gone through waiting for the girl’s body to be found was lifted.  A funeral service was conducted at the home at 2 o’clock this afternoon and burial was in the Brazil cemetery.  The girls’ body was found early yesterday afternoon about a mile below the bridge at Oak Hill Park on the National Road by Frank Laswell and his brother Ted Laswellof Harmony, members of a searching party who started out yesterday to comb the creek.  She drowned Monday night about 8 o’clock at Oak Hill Park.  Frank Reed, coroner of Putnam County went to Brazil last evening where he conducted an inquest at the Lawson Funeral Home and returned a verdict of accidental drowning.  The removal of the body of Miss Nicoson brought an end to the continuous stream of curious onlookers who have flocked to Oak Hill Park since word of the drowning went out Monday night.  The crowd at one time was estimated at 2,000 people and it was necessary for six state highway policemen to be kept at the scene to direct traffic.  --- transcribed by  kbz