St.
Clair County
Remnants Of The Past
DEATH BY DROWNING
CHARLES OSBORN LOSES HIS LIFE WHILE CROSSING THE
GALLNIPPER
St. Clair County Republican
Osceola, Mo. 26 July, 1900
Citizens of Osceola and many persons from the
country who remained in town after the Republican
Convention of last Monday, were shocked to learn,
soon after 9:00 o'clock that evening, that Charley
Osborn, a citizen of Lowry City, had been drowned
in Gallnipper, about one mile north of Osceola. At
8:30 o'clock that evening, in company with Wm.
Miller, who resides near Damascus, Mr. Osborn left
Osceola in a buggy for home. When they reached
Gallnipper, Osborn remarked that he would cross at the ford,
instead of on the bridge, in order to water his horses.
Remembering the heavy rainfall late that afternoon and fearing
the stream could be past fording, Mr. Miller protested against
attempting to cross at the ford, but, Osborn was driving and
would not listen to Miller. The team was driven into the swollen
stream and was ultimately swept down stream. Both men were fairly
good swimmers and instead of going ashore, remained in the water,
endeavoring to save the team and vehicle. After drifting down
sixty or seventy yards below the ford, Miller told Osborn they'd
better go ashore and abandon the horses, but Osborn continued
trying to save his horses. Soon the latter, discovering his
strength was fast failing, called to Miler to come to his
assistance. He responded but before reaching him, Osborn went
down. Miller endeavored to locate him when he would come to the
surface. As the night was dark he could not do it. After
remaining for some time for his companion to get out, and after
calling him a number of times to learn if possibly, he had reached
land, Miller returned to town and reported what had happened. As
the night was very dark no one made an attempt to recover the body
until Tuesday morning. Early that morning a large number of men
went to the scene of the accident to recover the body. The stream
had fallen and six men walked abreast down stream searching for
it. After proceeding between a quarter and a half mile, one of
them found it a short distance below the Frisco bridge on the
above mentioned stream. One of them had a forked stick, which was
hooked on one of the drowned man's ankles when the body was
located. The water was three or four feet deep at that point.
The corpse was brought to the surface and carried to the bank,
where it remained until the arrival of the family of the deceased.
It was decided an inquest should be held and the
body was placed in a wagon and brought to town. The vehicle was
driven to the court yard where W. C. Holsapple, acting coroner and
a jury proceeded to investigate the manner in which death was
brought about.
There was of course but one witness present when
the drowning occurred, namely Wm. Miller. His
testimony, in effect, is set forth in the
foregoing.
Following is the verdict rendered by the coroner's
jury:
We, the jury, impaneled to deliberate upon the
cause of death of Charles Osborn, find upon testimony of Wm.
Miller, that his death resulted from accidental drowning in
Gallnipper creek, near the bridge on
Osceola and Lowry City road.
R. L. Love, Frank Birdwell, R. Davis, R. S.
Snuffer, H. Petry, and P. Brown composed the jury.
The face of the deceased was badly bruised and
skinned when removed from the water, the result, in all
probability, of being struck by the struggling horses in trying to
free themselves from the harness while deceased was endeavoring to
assist them.
One horse was drowned, but the other was found next
morning after the accident, a short distance above where Osborn's
body was found. It was still fast to the drowned animal and
standing in the water. The vehicle was pretty badly demolished.
The undertaker from Lowry was here at the inquest
and took charge of the body. The remains were
interred Wednesday afternoon at the Dunkard
(Pleasant Mount Cemetery) graveyard, a few miles
northeast of Osceola.
Deceased was probably fifty or fifty-five years of
age and leaves a wife and several grown children.
He was an old soldier and was a member of the Post
at this place.
(Submitted by Kaaren Osborn Bangert and Mary Zeiler)
