Edythe Lee Billman
“July 4,
1919 that was the year of the great disaster on Lake Madison when
the boat, the Reliance, sank taking with it 9 lives. Among
those whose lives were lost was my dearest friend with whom
I had gone to school with for 8 years, her brother, and the
neighbor girl. Three of the nine were from a small
farming community north of Colman.
It
was a terrible tragedy. It was a beautiful day in
July, July 4th in fact, and my parents and my brother and
I who lived in Rutland came
down to celebrate the Fourth of July at Lake Madison during
the Chautauqua. We made plans for it for a long time. My
friend Pearl,
the friend who died in the tragedy, Pearl Winkelplex and
her family were also there to spend the day. What
a happy time we had. There were ice cream cones galore,
there were all the things we loved so much. And so
we decided that we’d go on that boat, the Reliance,
across the lake and watch the fireworks from the lake.
Oh, we could hardly wait! So when the boat came and
was loaded, they lined us up. I think about 2 at
a time and they bought the tickets. I
don’t remember much about that part, but my friend
and her brother and sister were just ahead of us, so we
were next in line. But just then, they lowered the gate
and said “no more passengers”. Of course we
didn’t realize it then, but we knew later that the
boat was overloaded and they shouldn’t have taken
as many as they did. How disappointed we were that
we couldn’t go on that boat ride. It spoiled
the whole day for us, but we had to find something else
to occupy our time.
It
didn’t seem very long until there became a lot of commotion
down by the lake. Voices calling so we went down and heard
that the boat had sunk. Well, when you’re 14 years
old, that is a major tragedy, especially when your best friend
is on that boat. We waited and we gained news of one body
being found, or someone being found alive. But finally, as I
recall, it was about midnight when
my parents persuaded us to go home because they told us that
in all likelihood, Pearl and
her brother had been found on the other side of the lake to satisfy
us so we would go home. But
early the next morning, mother came into my room and told me
that there had been 9 people drowned. The bodies had all
been found and my dear friend Pearl and
her brother were among those who had drowned. It was the
kind of a tragedy that one never forgets. And then of course,
later we found there not enough life preservers and that the
only reason her sister had been saved was because someone who
had a life preserver had taken a hold of her and held her head
up until they were rescued. It might have been prevented,
the whole tragedy, in the first place if the boat hadn’t
been overloaded, and if there would have been enough life vests
to go around.