Frank Pruitt

My grandmother wouldn't let her daughters learn to swim. My mother, Marion, eventually learned to do the sidestroke, but only after my brother was born, and only because a good friend pointed out the dangers of fishing with my Dad and the baby. She asked Mom how she expected my Dad to save both   if the boat tipped over. Dad was an excellent swimmer and as a boy had saved a woman from drowning, but Mom recognized it was wrong to make him choose who to rescue first.

I wish I had a picture of Frank Pruitt. My grandmother was only 19 when he drowned.

Centralia Evening Sentinel Monday 3 July 1911 page 1

LAD DROWNS IN OLD RESERVOIR AT NOON TODAY 

Frank Pruitt, 11, Goes to Watery Grave Before Eyes of His Sunday School Teacher and Classmates.

Was With Crowd at Sunday School Picnic.

Frank Pruitt, aged 11, son of Lucien Pruitt, living at 594 North Walnut street, was drowned this afternoon at 1 o’clock at the old reservoir, while attending a picnic of the Presbyterian Sunday School class taught by Howard Burr. The boy went to a watery grave before the eyes of his Sunday School teacher and a dozen or more young lads, all classmates, who were attending the picnic. The tragedy is an exceedingly sad one.

It was with difficulty that particulars of the accident could be secured, there being considerable excitement at the scene, the fatality breaking up all thoughts of a picnic, and all attention was turned toward receiving the body of the drowned boy. Besides the members of the class, Mr. and Mrs. Burr, and Mr. and Mrs. Charles Spaulding were in attendance, the entire party making the trip to Central City on a street car this morning and going from there out to the reservoir.

Some reports are to the effect that the boy was drowned while in swimming, while others were to the effect that he was sitting on the bank, when he lost his balance and fell in. Others who could swim went to the boy’s assistance and endeavored to save him, but it was impossible and the lad went down before the eyes of all the witnesses, some powerless to help. Relatives of the lad said he could swim, but it was evident that he was stricken so suddenly that he could not recover in time to save himself, or else was seized with an attack of cramps.

The boy’s father, Lucien Pruitt, is a switchman for the C.B. & Q. railroad, and the mother and other members of the family were almost prostrated when they learned of the drowning of the boy. He was a lad exceptionally well liked and had a large number of acquaintances both in school and church who will deeply mourn the loss of a valued and true friend.

A searching party was immediately formed to find the body of the boy, and grappling hooks and a rowboat were used in an effort to bring the body to the surface. The water is quite deep, however, at the place of drowning, and the work proceeded with difficulty. The men in the searching party continued their work throughout the afternoon, however, in hope of bringing the body to the shore before nightfall. Coroner T.J. Foster was notified, but did not make a trip to the scene of the accident, as he said he would await the recovery of the body. The Haussler ambulance was called and started for the reservoir at 1:30, the men going with the ambulance assisting in the search for the body. The inquest will be held by Dr. Foster at the Haussler undertaking establishment as soon as the body is recovered.

The drowned lad has one surviving brother and several sisters. The drowning is the first of the season recorded in Centralia or immediate vicinity.

The body of the lad was recovered at 3:35 this afternoon, at the place the boy went down.

Source 4446: Centralia Evening Sentinel Wednesday 5 July 1911 page 4 column B

TOOK ONE LAST DIVE TO DEATH

According to the testimony developed at the inquest over the body of Frank Pruitt, aged 10, who was drowned in the old reservoir Monday morning about 11:30, the boy desired to take “just one more dive” after the rest of the boys were returning to the shore. Howard H. Burr, the teacher of the Sunday School class, which was holding the picnic, had been in swimming withthe boys, and was donning his clothes in the bushes nearby when the Pruitt lad took the fatal dive. It seems he stepped from about five feet of water near the edge of the reservoir into about 20 feet, the reservoir bed taking a sudden drop a short distance from the shore.

Mr. Burr, who was brought before the Coroner, T.J. Foster and the jury sitting on the inquest, testified that he was in the water for two hours and made every possible effort to save the boy, but could not seem to reach him until the boat arrived. He told a graphic story of the drowning.

Charles Garland, aged 12, and Frazier Caeron, aged 11, were the only two other witnesses examined by the coroner and jury. They both told a concise story of the drowning and of the efforts to save the lad.

The jury after carefully considering the testimony brought in a verdict of death by accidental drowning. The body was viewed in the afternoon and the inquest proper held at the office of Squire T.B. Andrews. The parents of the boy are nearly prostrate by their loss.

Source 4445: Carbondale Daily Free Press, Carbondale, Illinois, Thursday 6 July 1911 page 3

A coroner’s jury at Centralia, July 4, held an inquest over Frank Pruitt, 11 year old son of Lucien Pruitt, and returned a verdict of accidental drowning, exonerating Howard H. Burr, a local insurance agent and teacher of a class in the Presbyterian Sunday school. This class was on a picnic to the old reservoir at the edge of the city when young Pruitt was drowned. While Mr. Burr’s back was turned in the belief that the boys all had come out of the water at his call, young Pruitt decided to take “just one more dive.” He went in to 20 feet of cold water and was drowned, although the teacher nearly lost his life in an attempt to rescue the lad. Mr. Burr was formerly one of the publishers of the Murphysboro Republican Era and is a brother-in-law of Otto J. Rude, of Carbondale.