Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 34, Number 88, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 July 1902 — Children Drowned Near Reynolds. [ARTICLE]

Children Drowned Near Reynolds.

The Monticello Herald has th® following particulars of a lamentable accident resulting from the excessive rains, which occured near Reynolds: The farm home of Mr. and Mrs, John Kilgas, one mile west of Reynolds, was the scene of a sad accident Sunday evening, in which theii two daughters, Ida and Alma, aged eight and ten years respectively, met death by drowning. The two little girls, accompanied by a cousin, Walter Kilgas, ten years old, started out in the pasture to drive the cows home. The pasture was flooded with water from the heavy rain of Saturday and while wading across it the children stepped into a deep hole which had been washed out at the broken joint of a twelve-inch drain tile. The water as it rushed into the broken tile created quite a suction and Ida, the younger of the two, was drawn down Alma falling on her. The little boy attempted to draw them out but each time he got hold of them the ground gave way under his feet. Another boy who was standing on the railroad crossing watching the children saw their condition and started back to the house to give the alarm. Mr. and Mrs. Kilgas were in the yard bidding good-bye to some visitors and while they drove with all haste to the help of the children they arrived too late. Both of the girls were dead and the boy nearly exhausted. The loss of the two daughters is more keenly felt by the parents as a younger child died less than three months ago. The funeral was held from the Lutheran church at Reynolds Tuesday and interment was made at the Lutheran cemetery two and one-half miles west of Reynolds. The two were laid side by side in the same casket. The bereaved parents have the sympathy of the community in their sad loss.