John Gordon Carson

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-170093
• Misfortune: 1939; drowned

Notes:

John Gordon Carson - St. Jacobs - John Gordon Carson, five-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Roland W. Carson, drowned in the Conestoga River here on Tuesday afternoon. The body has not yet been recovered.

He is survived by his parents and one brother, eight years old.

Fail To Recover Body Of Five-Year-Old Lad Drowned At St. Jacobs
Kitchener Lad, Drowned in November, Was Chum of Victim; Well Known in Twin City

Kitchener - Dragging operations for the body of five-year-old Gordon Carson, drowned early Tuesday afternoon in the Conestogo River at S. Jacobs, near here, again proved futile Wednesday. The victim is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Roland W. Carson, of St. Jacobs.

The lad is said t have been drowned when he slid off the bank of the river into the water in an attempt to retrieve his rubber boot which had fallen in. Leonard Bowman, 5, his companion, on seeing the accident raced back to the village for help, but by the time they returned no trace of the Carson lad could be found.

Old residents of the village told The Chronicle this morning that unless the body sand close to the shore where the lad fell in "it is doubtful if it will ever be recovered."

"The current in the old Conestogo at St. Jacobs is about the fastest and most treacherous it is anywhere, and if the remains of the Carson lad are caught by it, there is no telling where the body will go," C. Schutz, a resident stated.

According to Schutz, the body may already have been carried all the way to Brantford after the Conestogo River joins the Grand River.

The factory in St. Jacobs, in which the father of the victim is an official, remained closed all day yesterday and will probably do so today to allow its employees to assist in dragging operations. It was learned by The Chronicle that a number of men worked very late Tuesday night at the factory manufacturing drag hooks and more adequate grappling equipment.

According to Leonard Bowman, 5, son of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Bowman, he accompanied the victim, to the bank of the river at about 1:30 yesterday afternoon. The drowned lad was the son of Mr. and MR.s R. W. Carson, of St. Jacobs.

"We walked up the river bank as far as the railroad (CNR) bridge, to see what the river looked like as the ice had gone out the day before," Leonard told.

"The bank of the river was pretty slippery, but Gordon left me for a minute and walked a little farther up the bank. All at once, I saw him slip and his rubber boot came off and slipped down into the water. When he tried to get it out he fell in, and I ran to get help," Leonard told The Review.

Leonard said he did not try to help his companion to get out of the water as he apparently sank before he was able to run for help at William Schaner's office which was the closest place.

"I ran back to the spot where the boys had been standing and where the young lad fell in," Arthur Schaner told The Chronicle, "but when I got there, there was no sign of him."

Leonard Bowman, who had been with the Carson lad, said the latter made "no sound whatever" as he sank. He did not come up a second or third time, he said.

"We had told our son so many times to stay away from the river bank, but apparently it was useless," sobbed Mrs. Carson, mother of the dead boy. "It was less than half an hour after he had left the house with the Bowman boy that I heard he had been drowned," she said.

Mrs. Michael Bowman said she had often told both of the boys to "stay clear of the river." "We are very fortunate that he did not try to rescue the other lad or both would have been drowned," she told the Chronicle.

The victim, besides his parents, had one brother, O'Neill, aged 8, who was at school at the time of the tragedy. His companion, Leonard Bowman, also has an older brother who was at school.

Ironically, the dead lad's best friend, little Clive Edward Snyder, son of Mr. and Mrs. Clive Snyder, of Kitchener, was accidentally drowned late last November. Mr. Carson is superintendent of the Canada Felt Co. plant at St. Jacobs while Mr. Snyder is manager of the factory.

Immediately after the alarm had been sounded yesterday afternoon, all factories in the village, an industrial centre, closed down, and all employees gathered at the river to assist in the search.

A wire net was stretched across the river, and rescue parties were organized, using hooks and poles from boats and canoes. The work was speeded up with the arrival of fast motor boats from Kitchener. Today, it is expected more elaborate dragging equipment will be used. A watch is being kept for the body seven miles down the river at Conestogo, the Chronicle learned.

Chartering one of the few canoes available at the scene of the drowning, The Chronicle assisted in dragging operations.

Waterloo Chronicle 29 Mar 1939