Drowning Incident On June 28, 1883, in keeping with a prearranged plan, about twenty—five young people met with the

idea of proceeding to Schurmans’ Shore on Richmond Bay for a picnic. They were a happy lively bunch and as they journeyed to their destination, they sang and shouted to one another and whenever they spotted

anyone along the road or in the fields they urged them to join the fun.

On their arrival they had their picnic meal and proceeded to scan the beach. Two boys and six girls found a row boat tied on the shore, so they pushed it into the water and all eight got into it. As they had no oars, the boys took turns giving the boat a push. They drifted out farther than they realized, and when one of

the boysjumped out, he landed in a deep hole which had been dug in search of mussel mud. The occupants knowing nothing of the ways of overloaded row boats, panicked, and overturned the boat, plunging everyone into the water. For a time some clung to the upturned boat, but by the time help arrived, all but two, Ran-

dolph Arbing and Emma Reeves had drowned in the deep hole.

Those drowned were: Annie Reeves (23), Edmond Reeves (l7), daughter and son of Charles Reeves, Lower Freetown; Mary Arbing (37), sister of Randolph Arbing; Mary Jane Drummond (16), sister of Samuel Drummond; Mary Ellen George (20), daughter of James George and sister of Mrs. Freeman Reeves; and Hannah, beloved wife of James Arbing, a sister of Samuel Matthews.

For any community to lose six of its young citizens in one swoop must have seemed unreal, but the six open graves in the Freetown Methodist Cemetery that June of 1883 proved indeed such a catastrophe

had befallen the community of Freetown.

On the last Saturday in June, a heart-broken citizenry tenderly laid to rest in the shade of the Birch Grove, six of her fairest and best loved young people. * * * “Still, still with Thee, when purple morning breaketh, When the bird waketh, and the shadows flee; Fairer than morning, lovelier than daylight, Dawns the sweet consciousness, I am with Theef’

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Freetown United Church Choir. Back row left to right: Jesse Bradshaw, Jesse Burns, Allison Reeves, Henry Reeves, Rev. Angus Brown (Minister),

Scott Cairns. Front row: Irene Reeves, Dorothy Burns, Jessie Drummond, Ruby Profitt (organist), Mary I. Cairns, Winnifred

Burns, Mary E. Cairns, Janet Reeves.

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