Daily Press And Dakotaian

DEATH BY DROWNING.
T. E. Woollens Drowned In the Missouri River, While Bathing.
Our citizens were startled on Saturday evening by the report that T. E. Woollens, well-known and exemplary young man, had drowned while bathing in the Missouri river a short distance above the foot of Broadway.
Soon after supper a party of young men went to the point indicated to bathe, which is not in the main river, but in a narrow channel which has been cut through a sand bar. In places the water in this channel is shallow, but in others it drops off into holes from ten to twenty feet deep, in which there appears to be a treacherous under-current. On the surface there is very little current. It was in one of these holes that the unfortunate lad met his fate.
It appears that all of the party excepting Woollens and Oliver Shannon, jr., had left the water, and were on the bank. Soon afterwards those in the water commenced calling for help, but their companions, believing that they were joking, as they thought it impossible for them to need assistance in the narrow channel, did not go to them directly. The calls for help were repeated, and were then promptly responded to, but when assistance had reached the spot Woollens had sunk out of sight in the muddy water and young Shannon was rescued just in time to save him from the same fate. He had been making desperate efforts to save his drowning companion, and had become so greatly exhausted as to be unable to reach the shore without assistance. The alarm was immediately spread and everything was done that could be done to recover the body. All day yesterday a large number of men were engaged in dragging the channel, and only stopped their unsuccessful efforts when the darkness of night compelled them to do so.
Early this morning, as the mail carrier between Yankton and Green Island was crossing the river, he discovered the body floating in the water opposite the ways, nearly a mile below where the accident happened. Procuring assistance, the body was recovered and conveyed to the Herald office, and afterwards to the residence of Maris Taylor, of that paper.
T. E. Woollens came to Yankton about two years ago, from Oxford, Pa., where his parents reside. He was a cousin of the Taylor Brothers, of the Herald, and during his residence here worked as a compositor in the Herald office, and boarded with Maris Taylor, the senior member of that firm, who is at present absent from the city.
As soon as the accident became known, James Taylor informed the parents of the drowned young man of the sad event, and this morning he received a reply directing him, in case the body was recovered, to have it embalmed and sent to his old home at Oxford, for burial. These instructions will be carried out. The body was embalmed to-day, and enclosed in a metallic casket. To-morrow morning James Taylor will start east with it to the home of the stricken and sorrowing parents.
The deceased was about 18 years old, and was universally loved and respected for his industry, correct habits and quiet, gentlemanly deportment. He was the pet and idol of his parents, to whom he was a devoted and dutiful son; his relations here were greatly attached to him, and he possessed the unbounded respect of his acquaintances and office companions.
Words are impotent to heal the deep sorrow which this sad event has occasioned. A good young man, whose life thus far gave promise of a bright and useful future, has been called to lay down his life just as he was ready to step upon the threshold of manhood, and we must submit to, while we wonder at, the power which we are taught 'doeth all things well.'