Newspaper Report
Drowning of 5 Children
Terrible Fatality at Port Felix, N.S. Yesterday
Afternoon
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Locked in Each Other's Arms, the Children went to their
Death
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Little Boy's Last Message to his Mother
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Minnie Fougere Aged 15, the only survivor out of a Merry
Party of Berry Pickers -
The Victims were the children of
Joseph King and Frank Fougere.
Special to the Morning Chronicle
Whitehead, N.S. Sept.12-
A very sad drowning accident occurred at Port Felix
today by which five young people lost their lives.
The Dead Are:
John Fougere, aged 11.
Maggie Fougere, aged 9.
Clara King, aged 18.
Maggie King, aged 14.
Martin King, aged 12.
Saved: Minnie Fougere, aged 15.
The Fougeres are children of Frank Fougere,
Postmaster and mail driver at East Port Felix.
The Kings are children of Joseph and Mary King,
of Port Felix, and are cousins of the Fougeres.
The Boat capsized
The children left their homes this morning to pick
blueberries,
and about six miles back of Port Felix they
attempted to cross a lake
in an old leaky flat there for the
use of berry pickers.
They succeeded in reaching a small
island in the lake by going two at a time in the boat,
but
on returning, the six got in,
and when about two thirds of
the way across the boat filled and turned bottom up.
Locked in Each others Arms
Maggie Fougere & Maggie King got on the bottom of
the craft,
but the boat turned back again, throwing them in
the water.
Minnie Fougere then caught the boat and managed
to paddle ashore with the boat.
After reaching the shore,
Minnie says she saw the
two boys locked in each others arms,
and the two younger
girls also had hold of each other,
and the larger girl was
sinking.
John Fougere called out to his sister,
to tell his
mother he was trying to swim ashore.
The girl hastened to her home,
where she arrived in
about two hours.
She still heard those in the water
screaming for help after she left the lake.
A large search party left for the scene of the
accident,
but when they reached the lake there was nothing
to be seen,
and owing to the lateness of the hour,
search
for the bodies had to be abandoned till the morning.
Much
sympathy is felt for the parents who are nearly distracted.
Mrs. Fougere wired the sad news to her husband,
who is in
Rumford Falls, Maine.
Return to St.Joseph's R.C. Cemetery Listing
