Husband Fred Collins 1
Born: 24 Nov 1899 - Claude, Texas
Christened:
Died: 7 Jun 1914 - Claude, Texas
Buried: - Claude, Texas
Father: Ira Neal Collins (1875-1928) 1
Mother: Elizabeth B. Walton (1882-1956) 1 2 3
Marriage:
Wife
Born:
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Children
General Notes: Husband - Fred Collins
OBITUARY:
The following obituary is a clipping from the "Claude News".
Meets Tragic Death
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Born in Claude Novermber 14, 1899. Died June 7, 1914.
Sunday afternoon, June 7th, about 3 o'clock, Fred, son of Mr. and Mrs. I. N. Collins, met death by drowning in the Cheauveaux lake, three miles southeast of Claude.
Fred, Bryan Richardson, Leo Patterson and Dewey Butler had gone to the lake for the purpose of taking a swim. Fred, Bryan and Dewey had been in the water for a time when it was suggested that the three cross the lake. Dewey, who was the better swimmer of the three, reached the shore in safety; Bryan came near drowning but finally landed in an exhausted condition. When Fred reached the middle of the lake he realized that he would not be able to make the shore and called for help, at the same time going under the water. The body came to the surface the second time but his companions were unable to assist him and the unfortunate boy sank the third and last time.
When Fred sank beneath the waters Leo ran to the home of T. A. Cheauveaux, about half a mile distant, and phoned the sad news to his father and others in town. Warren Hood and Tony Cheauveaux returned with Leo, and soon a large crowd from town gathered at the lake and began searching for the body. The water was about seven feet deep and very muddy and the search was made by sinking the body and feeling with the feet. J. E. Brook, J. D. Woodburn, N. Hunter, Sam Calliham, Warren Hood and others searched diligently for two hours when the body was located and brought to the surface. Over a hundred people had gathered at the lake and accompanied the remains to the home of the grief-laden parents.
The news of the tragedy soon reached the homes in and around town and hundreds visited the family to offer aid and sympathy in this the saddest hour of their lives.
The grandmother, Mrs. F. P. Walton, and Miss Claudia, who were in Central Texas, and Newt Walton and wife of Quanah, were notified by wire and arrived on the noon train Monday.
The funeral occurred Monday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock.
When the procession left the home, Lloyd Nelson and Olin Slay, Roscoe Logue and Oscar Weaver, Claude Howe and Frank Lauderdale, members of the Claude Cornet Band, active pall-bearers of their comrade, marched in front of the hearse. Behind it came Misses Nora Sheld, Elsie Wallace, Edna Clark, Juanita Butler, Tyny Lynch and Bonnie McCubbins, all in white, bearing flowers. The remainder of the band were next in line, followed by the family and friends.
The Christian Church was full, even the aisles and vestry, and one-third of the congregation ___________
PLACE of DROWNING:
In May 2009 I visited John Chauveaux and his wife in their home in section 203 about 3 miles SE of Claude. He is the youngest son of T. A. (Tony) Chauveaux and in 2009 was in his mid 80's. He showed me a draw about 1/2 miles from the house across which his father had built an earthen dam. He said that boys from Claude used to come there to swim. At some point a heavy rain washed away part of the dam, and John Chauveaux said that his father decided not to repair it, saying that a boy from Claude had drowned there once.
There are many playa lakes/dry lakes in the Texas Panhandle. They fill up with water after heavy rains and the large ones can hold water for several years, but sooner or later they all dry up. The body of water described in the obituary suggests a playa lake, but the body of water on the Chauveaux farm was a tank created by damming a draw, not a playa lake. A tank might be long but it is narrow, and it not credible that someone could not swim across it. My aunt Elizabeth Collins Baker, born in 1919, 5 years after Fred's death, has told me that her mother said that Fred had cramps and cried for help but that his companions did not believe him until it was too late. That story is consistent with the place where he drowned. I suspect that the story in the obituary was intentionally 'sanitized'.
My mother said, "In June 1914 my brother Fred drowned in a water hole on the Chauveaux farm. I think this hole was in the Mulberry Canyon."
