Obituaries: Mary Ann Emerson, 1926, Winn Parish, LA
Submitted by Greggory E. Davies, 120 Ted Price Lane, Winnfield, LA 71483
**********************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm
**********************************************


 



From: July 8, 1926 Winn Parish Enterprise

Miss Emerson Drowns

Mrs. R. W. Oglesby received a telegram late Tuesday afternoon from Bolivar,
Tennessee, stating that her niece, Mary Anne Emerson, had drowned that
morning at nine o'clock.  Mrs. Oglesby hastily left for Bolivar soon after she
received the message.  The Commercial Appeal of July the 7th gives the
following account of the tragedy:

"Bolivar, Tenn., July 6th, 1926.  A party of girls, eight in number, started
from Bolivar this morning to enjoy a day in the woods, pitching their camp
near Blue Bend, a noted spot in Hatchie River bottoms about a mile north of
town.  Shortly after arriving, two of the number, Mary Anne Emerson and Evelyn
Savage, decided to go in bathing over the protests of their companions.

They walked out into the water about waist deep, when Miss Emerson who was
in advance stepped into water over her head.  She screamed and pulled Miss
Savage in with her.  Miss Emerson could not swim and went down.  Miss Savage
finally loosened her grip and swam out.

Miss Emerson sank several times and some of the girls seeing her predicament
threw a quilt into the water, but it was out of her reach, and she went down
for the last time.  Panic stricken the girls came back and gave the alarm,
when a hundred or more of our citizens hurried to the scene.  The body was
recovered about three hours later.  It was thought that life remained and she
was rushed to Jackson for treatment, but it was too late.  A daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. R. A. Emerson, Miss Emerson was only 16 years of age, a bright and
beautiful girl, a favorite with all who knew her."

Miss Emerson visited her relatives in Winnfield last Christmas and was a
general favorite among the young people of this place.  She was the oldest
girl of a large family of eleven children and is the first to be claimed by
death.  Miss Savage is a niece of Mrs. Dr. Kelly, who, with her children, is
now on a visit to Bolivar.