Drowning Accidents

North Olean History Drowning Accidents
Pictured is Dan Brown's Saw Mill, in 1891. We used to call this the "Old Mill Swimming Hole" when I was a kid where we would swim. It was located across the creek from River Street. The bridge was used to reach the Mill. (courtesy OHPS)

EARLY DROWNINGS IN NORTH OLEAN CREEK
In April of 1855 the greatest flood that had inundated Olean in the last ten or fifteen years took place. There was general flooding throughout the southern portion of the state causing considerable damage and the loss of life.

On April 21, 1855, Charles Titus, little son of Chauncy H. Titus, was drowned in the Olean Creek near Paul Reed’s sawmill. He had been playing on the bridge with another boy, a little older, when the little fellow fell into the raging currant below, and was quickly swept out of sight. No one capable was near, and the water was so high and rolling that no trace of him could be found when assistance came. He was last seen in a small whirlpool, in which he was carried several times around, and when he rapidly approached the center, he disappeared beneath the angry waters. A thorough search was made for the body without any success. Several of the citizens united in offering a reward of $50 for the recovery of the body.

The father of the drowned boy was C. H. Titus, the former proprietor of the Newbold House and who was now employed as a railroad wood sawyer. (I presume that he worked at Paul Reed’s sawmill located on the Olean Creek, North Olean.) His father, mother Maria L. Titus, a sister Luna E. Titus and his grandmother, Sarah Titus, survived him.

Three weeks later on a Sunday, May 11, 1855, the body of little Charles Titus was found a short distance above the town by Mr. Cooper.

DANIEL GRUNDY DROWNS
IN BROWN’S MILL POND
Daniel Grundy was the son of Mrs. Ellen Grundy, a widow, who lived at 23 River Street in North Olean. He was at the time of this tragedy a little over eight years and seven months old and the youngest of nine children.

There were three boys, two of them brothers, Frank and Burt Rawson and Daniel Grundy, paddling around Brown’s millpond nearly all the forenoon of Thursday, April 16, 1891 having a great time. Now the water was very deep above the dam and the current smooth and treacherous. As a consequence, they failed to notice that they were in danger until the boat was drawn into the swift current and became unmanageable. The fall was about eight feet at the dam, and below was a seething, boiling maelstrom, eighteen or twenty feet deep, filled with logs, slabs, piles and brushwood.

Just as the boat reached the dam the Grundy boy and one of the Rawson boys jumped out. The Rawson boy caught hold of the boat, and with his brother escaped a watery grave as the boat remained right side up and floated into shallow water. The cries of the boys attracted the men at work in the mill. When they arrived at the dam nothing could be seen of the Grundy boy, though one of the Rawson boys stated that he had seen him go over the dam. A search for the body was commenced immediately. Boats were procured, and a number of men with pike poles and grappling hooks dragged the bottom of the creek above and below the dam all the afternoon, through the night and all the next day without any luck. The bed of the creek below the dam was full of deep holes and covered with a mass of rubbish, which made it impossible to search.

When the news of the drowning was first made public there were a few men who volunteered their time and services to search for the body. Principal among them were Engineer, A. J. Latimer, of the Rochester division of the W.N.Y.& P. Railroad; James E. Gallagher; Cornelius Sullivan, Erie Yardmaster and a brother-in-law of the drowned boy; William Griffin, one of the Standard Oil gaugers; Charles Hamer, an employee of Brown’s Mill and pipeline men, Hines and Bunk. These men took an active part in the search at a loss of their wages, and worked day and night in an endeavor to find the body, while others stood aside and found fault with what was being done. On Sunday, Alderman Gallagher had exploded a number of dynamite shots in the creek bottom in the hope of raising the body. The fault-finders insisted that he had so covered the body with debris that it would never be found.

On Sunday afternoon and Monday morning Engineer Latimer started out with a subscription paper to try to raise enough money to secure the services of a couple of Buffalo diver to search the creek bottom. He met with little success until he struck the W.Y.N.& P. boys. They had just received their monthly pay, and they contributed liberally from their earned wages. Between $75 and $80 was raised and the divers were sent for.

Monday morning at 11 o’clock, Jerry McCarthy and Charles Bovee, representing the firm of Connelly Bros. & Co. of Buffalo arrived. By one o’clock, the divers were in their gear and searching beneath the water. The search was a difficult one since beneath the surface of the water large quantities of driftwood, and in some places piled the feet high, was found. This made it impossible to explore many parts of the pool. The divers searched without result. They stated that the dynamite shots had not disturbed the creek bed in the least, and that the body was not there, as they inspected every foot of the bottom.

The banks on each side of the creek, the dam, and every available point were crowded with spectators. In fact the sightseers included much of all North Olean and hundreds of people from uptown. The North Olean School was wholly deserted, the teachers having no pupils, concluded that they might just as well follow the crowd.

Since the pay to a diver for one day was $35, there was not enough money to keep them there to search more than one day. It was regretted that a sufficient amount could not have been raised to make a more thorough search. After paying the divers, a small sum was left and was given to the bereaved mother, who was not in the best of circumstances.

Nine days after the drowning of Danny Grundy, the waters gave up his body at about 12 Noon. It was found floating in the pool below the dam, the place that had been so thoroughly searched. Tommy Harveson, a lad who had been a playmate of the Grundy boy, discovered the body. The Harveson boy, with some companions, was playing in the riffles just below the mill, when suddenly he caught sight of the body of his dead playmate floating in the water, anchored to a snag. The boys immediately notified some of the men in the vicinity, who placed the body in a boat and covered it with a white cloth. A telephone message was then sent to the Blighton undertaking establishment, and the black wagon was sent down and brought the remains of the drowned boy to the city. The body was in a good state of preservation, but the face and hands were badly swollen and discolored.

The funeral of Daniel Grundy was held from his home on River Street on April 26, 1891 at 2:30 p.m. He was buried at Oak Lawn Cemetery.

A DOUBLE DROWNING AT BROWN’S MILL A particularly distressing drowning accident occurred on June 9, 1898, about 8 p.m. at the pond adjoining Brown’s Sawmill. Two young boys named Edgar B. Willover and Fred Moodler, together with some companions went swimming. Willover and Moodler stayed in the water after the others. Willover was teaching Moodler to swim, and whatever happened to cause the drowning the other boys couldn’t explain, as it was getting dark and the boys in the water could not be plainly seen from the bank.

The first indication that something was wrong was a cry for help, followed by the sound of splashing and struggling. One of the boys could be dimly seen with his arms clasped about the other, and then both sank from view. The alarm was quickly given, but by the time any help had arrived the boys were dead.

A boat was brought to the pond by John Moodler, a brother of one of the unfortunate lads and a party composed of Ed Johnson, Jim and Guy Drake begun a search for the bodies. The drag was used without effect and pike poles were brought into use. After a two-hour search, the bodies were found caught beneath a sunken tree in about ten feet of water. The boys were locked in each other’s arms; those of the younger (Moodler) were clasped about the older boy.

Edgar Willover was the son of John Willover, a carpenter, who resided on Homer Hill. He was 14 years and 10 months of age, and of a cheerful nature. The shock to his parents was a terrible one, especially to his mother, who was in ill health.

Fred Moodler, who would have been twelve years old the 13th of July, was the son of Benjamin Moodler, who lived at 79 River Street. The lad left home about 6:30 in the evening to care for the cow, but had said nothing about going swimming, as he probably had no thought of doing so at that time, since he was unable to swim.

MICHAEL MIKOLAJCZYK DROWNS
IN THE OLD MILL SWIMMING HOLE The Old Brown Mill swimming hole just north of the Erie Railroad Bridge in North Olean was one of the favorite swimming spots of North Olean boys for many years and it was a dangerous one. One could walk out but a few steps from shore and fall into a deep drop-off, or some of the better swimmers would enjoy diving off a homemade diving board into a deep hole. This deep hole could be dangerous as the old saw mill was once located there and underneath the water were many old piles left over from the milling days.

It was Saturday, July 4, 1931, the Fourth of July, when Michael Mikolajczyk, the son of Mr. and Mrs. John Fidurko, went swimming with a group of boys in the Old Mill swimming hole. The boys swam around and were enjoying themselves without much mind as to what “Sleepy Micko,” as he was nicknamed, was doing to cool off. After about three hours and as it was nearly dark, the boys decided to come out of the water. When Michael’s clothes were seen lying on the bank, they thought that he had gone to sleep in the nearby bush, until a child said that “Micko” had dove into the water some minutes before and had not come up.

The boys immediately dove into the water and recovered his lifeless body several minutes later. It seems that he had been caught in an old bedspring that had been thrown away and sunk to the bottom of the creek.

His parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Fidurko, four brothers and three sisters, survived the drowned youth. His funeral was held at the Transfiguration Church on July 7th, and he was laid to rest at St. Bonaventure Cemetery.

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