Sad accident at Tonawanda, Ironton mention, article (Lockport Daily Journal, 1874-01-24).jpg
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Sad accident at Tonawanda, Ironton mention, article (Lockport Daily Journal, 1874-01-24).jpg
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SAD ACCIDENT AT TONAWANDA.
A Sailboat Capsized with three Men in it, one of Whom was Drowned.
TONAWANDA, Jan. 23, 1874.
To the Editors of the Lockport Daily Journal:
About twelve o’clock to-day, as H. A. Rose, Joseph Gerean and his brother, were returning from Grand Island in a sail boat, where they had been duck shooting, their boat struck a cake of ice when about half way across the river and capsized, the three men being thrown into the water. Unable to cling to the boat, the three endeavored to save themselves by clinging to the floating ice. Rose, who is a one-legged man, and the younger Gerean, by the aid of the oars which they had secured when capsized, succeeded in getting upon the ice; but Joseph, less fortunate than his companions, being unable to get upon the ice, finally became chilled, and when near the foot of Carney Island sank and was seen no more.
The surviving men continued to float down the river. The wind blowing quite freshly from the southwest had driven the ice in the river to the easterly shore, and it being very thin and badly broken up, it was next to impossible to reach them or afford them any relief from this side, and they were unnoticed or at least no boats started for their rescue from the Island shore.
Their perilous condition was, however, comprehended by parties at Ironton, and a messenger was started up the river to the steam ferry some two miles above, in hope of getting a tug to go to their rescue. Meantime the frail field of ice borne along by the rapid current was hurrying them down the river and toward the Falls. But no sooner had word reached the Captain of the ferry tug Addah, than he steamed down the river and finally succeeded in reaching them at a point near the residence of the late Eugene Ransom, five miles below where the boat capsized. Thus the two men after this perilous journey were saved. The village is all excitement over the affair this morning, and the escape is considered well nigh miraculous, considering the weak and broken condition of the ice. Had the weather been colder the men must have perished before help could have reached them. The drowned man was a mechanic, about thirty-five years of age, and leaves a wife and children.
SAD ACCIDENT AT TONAWANDA.
A Sailboat Capsized with three Men in it, one of Whom was Drowned.
TONAWANDA, Jan. 23, 1874.
To the Editors of the Lockport Daily Journal:
About twelve o’clock to-day, as H. A. Rose, Joseph Gerean and his brother, were returning from Grand Island in a sail boat, where they had been duck shooting, their boat struck a cake of ice when about half way across the river and capsized, the three men being thrown into the water. Unable to cling to the boat, the three endeavored to save themselves by clinging to the floating ice. Rose, who is a one-legged man, and the younger Gerean, by the aid of the oars which they had secured when capsized, succeeded in getting upon the ice; but Joseph, less fortunate than his companions, being unable to get upon the ice, finally became chilled, and when near the foot of Carney Island sank and was seen no more.
The surviving men continued to float down the river. The wind blowing quite freshly from the southwest had driven the ice in the river to the easterly shore, and it being very thin and badly broken up, it was next to impossible to reach them or afford them any relief from this side, and they were unnoticed or at least no boats started for their rescue from the Island shore.
Their perilous condition was, however, comprehended by parties at Ironton, and a messenger was started up the river to the steam ferry some two miles above, in hope of getting a tug to go to their rescue. Meantime the frail field of ice borne along by the rapid current was hurrying them down the river and toward the Falls. But no sooner had word reached the Captain of the ferry tug Addah, than he steamed down the river and finally succeeded in reaching them at a point near the residence of the late Eugene Ransom, five miles below where the boat capsized. Thus the two men after this perilous journey were saved. The village is all excitement over the affair this morning, and the escape is considered well nigh miraculous, considering the weak and broken condition of the ice. Had the weather been colder the men must have perished before help could have reached them. The drowned man was a mechanic, about thirty-five years of age, and leaves a wife and children.
Date
Lockport Daily Journal, 1874-01-24
Collection
Citation
“Sad accident at Tonawanda, Ironton mention, article (Lockport Daily Journal, 1874-01-24).jpg,” North Tonawanda History, accessed September 12, 2025, https://nthistory.com/items/show/4382.