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04 October 2010

COOGAN story 

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(appearing in "Hartford Courant" [CT], 06 FEB 1864):

[....]

...He struggled for a while in deep water, and was being carried
under the ice, when Edward Coogan, a lad eighteen years of age,
plunged into the canal to...

...At this critical juncture, James Coogan, brother of Edward, came
to the... ...and succeeded in bringing the two lads to the surface,
where he kept them till a...

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(appearing in "Hartford Weekly Times" [CT], 13 FEB 1864, PAGE 4):

NARROW ESCAPE FROM DROWNING
A Noble Act of Heroism

Yesterday a lad by the name of O'Neill, of Windsor Locks, aged about
9 years, had a very narrow escape from drowning.  He was sent by the
mistress of the family in which he lived to deposit a letter in the
postoffice.  His route was by the canal.  On the way he discovered
some boys on the opposite side of the canal and stopped for a few
moments to notice their movements and passed some words of boyish
greeting with them, when by some accident, he dropped his mistress's
letter and it fell through a hole in the ice and sank to the bottom
of the canal.  Feeling he would merit just reproof from his mistress
for so careless an act, he resolved to make an effort to recover the
letter, and cautiously stepped upon the ice and was reaching for the
letter when the ice suddenly broke, and he was plunged headlong into
the canal.

He struggled for a while in the deep water and rose to the surface,
but the strong current took him down a second time and was carrying
him under the ice, when Edward Coogan, a lad of 18 years, nobly
rushed into the water and caught O'Neill and brought him to the 
surface; but owing to the swiftness of the current, he lost his
foothold, and both were carried down together.  At this critical
juncture, James, aged 16, a brother of Edward Coogan, came to the
rescue, and regardless of his own life, rushed into the water and
caught the lads, and, by almost superhuman effort, succeeded in
bringing them to the surface, and sustained them a short time, until
a man by the name of [Gogerty], who happened to come along could
procure a plank and reach out to them, and by means of which they
were all got out safely.  O'Neill, though nearly lifeless, was soon
made comfortable by the use of proper restoratives.

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