Sugar Creek

Ohio University Archives Library

9 Year Old Drowns in Mine 209 Reservoir

Thelma Jean Hart, nine year old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Hart of Sand Ridge, was drowned about 8 o'clock last night in the reservoir of the old 209 Mine in Sugar Creek.  Her body was recovered about 40 minutes later.  The child in company with three sisters, Juanita age 16, Grace age 13 and Wilma age 11 and another girl, was wading and swimming in the reservoir.  According to the story told Sheriff George Bateman, she slipped while walking possibly in water up to her chest and then became stuck in the stiff mud of the bottom.  Several young men  began diving for the girl and the one who eventually recovered the body told Fire Chief Clarence Parker, of Athens, that it was in deep water, approximately 50 feet deep, and that the bottom there was sandy.  Parker, and Gerald Glover and Roy Robinson, of the Athens rescue squad, arrived at the scene about the same time the body was recovered, and they used artificial respiration and the inhalator for approximately an hour in an unsuccessful effort to save the girl.  Funeral services were held in the Chauncey Methodist Church with the Rev. Hiram Mingus, and singers of the Holiness church officiating., and burial was in the Hilltop Cemetery.  Schoolmates were pallbearers and flower bearers.  The little girl attended the Chauncey schools.  She is survived by her parents, several brothers and sisters, and  grandparents, Mrs. Hattie Tittle of Beaumont and Mr. and Mrs. Lucius Hart of West Jefferson formerly of this vicinity.  July 29, 1942  (Athens Messenger)

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