As I've traversed the family records, both far and near, in my quest to learn our family story, I've run across tragedy after tragedy. Children by the score, lost before adulthood (what life was like before clean, treated water and vaccinations). Sometimes half a mother's children would not reach maturity. It's heartbreaking.
But, perhaps none so much as when tragedy strikes twice in the same moment. I've run across three cases of double-loss so far in my journey.
 |
| Wilma and Berdine |
The first was the case of sisters Wilma and Berdine. Wilma was 16 and had gone to a dance with her younger sister, age 15, and two boys. On the way home, they apparently stopped for beer at a local tavern. Reports stated that about a case had been purchased. In a later interview, Rutter observed during the trip that the 1939 model car Cadam was driving had reached 85 mph and had remarked upon it to the driver. At some point, the car they were riding in plunged through a bridge rail and soared 18 feet into the icy water below. Rutter was thrown clear of the car and was able to break free of the ice above him with his hand, sustaining only a cut hand in the accident. The remaining three drowned.
Rutter had been the one who purchased the beer. In early 1952, the State grand jury declined to bring an indictment against the owner of the Horton tavern, John Karasch, for selling beer to minors. By mid-1952, Rutter was in the military and by 1953, he was back home, having been arrested for a break-in with Melvin Cadam, presumably related to the Cadam killed in the accident. From that point, he seems to have gone on and lived the life his friends did not get to live.
As a brief aside, the parents of Wilma and Berdine had lost two other sons in infancy. Two of the remaining children did not live to 60 years old. Of seven children, only one survives.
No comments:
Post a Comment