Clay County MO Archives Obituaries.....Groom, Jacob July 4, 1885 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/mo/mofiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ronald J. Reid rreid21@cox.net January 27, 2008, 5:35 pm Liberty Weekly Tribune, Jul 17, 1885 Drowning of Jacob Groom. (Sumner County (Kan.) Wellingtonian.) J.T. Pemberton returned yesterday, direct from the scene of the Chikaskia flood. He reports the particulars of the drowning of MR. Jake Groom, as follows: Several families, instead of spending the Fourth in another way, went to Rock Falls, Indian Territory, and the men folks commenced seining above the falls, and the current, which was very swift, washed them over the falls into the deep water, and they went (six in number) swiftly down the stream. All the men, excepting Groom, held to the seine, one end of which was fastened to the shore, and in this manner were swung round to the bank, and felt no greater damage than a severe wetting. Groom, letting loose, was carried down the current a distance of about fifty yards. Those on shore thought he was swimming all right, and he was not farther than twenty feet from the north bank when some one spoke to him to swim on out. This seemed to bewilder him, as he immediately turned and commenced swimming back into the current. At this time he cried out for help, and Mr. William Brand started at once to the rescue: He succeeded in reaching him without trouble, and taking him by the hand commenced making good headway for the shore. Brand came near being exhausted himself, and Groom seeing this, said: “Bill, let me go, and swim yourself.” This Mr. Brand did, and then swam around Groom and tried to push him ashore. They both suddenly sank, and their hats floated down stream together. Brand came up all right, and those on the bank got a pole and pulled him out. Groom never rose to the surface again, and his body, up to this time, has not been found, though all day Sunday there were more than fifty men looking for the remains. Deceased leaves a wife and three children. He was highly respected, both as a neighbor and a man, by all who knew him. His home was about half way between South Haven and Guelph. The scene of the misfortune was Rock Falls, on Chikaskia River. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mo/clay/obits/g/groom333gob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/mofiles/ File size: 2.6 Kb