St. Clair County Obits

CHARLES W. OSBORN

St. Clair County Republican
26 July 1900
Death By Drowning. Charles Osborn loses his life while crossing the Gallnipper.
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 Miller 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 Mound 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.