by Laurel | December 9th, 2011
Note: It is likely the spelling of the surname is incorrect, but it appears here as it did in the newspaper. In any case, it remains just as sad regardless of spelling.
09 Dec 1921
Wadislaw Lzfrran May Have Been Carried Over Dam
Holyoke, Dec. 8 — Wadislaw Lzfrran, 6, of 77 Walnut Street is believed to have been drowned in the Connecticut River this afternoon about 2:30. It is not known whether the body went over the dam or into the canal, as the boy fell into the water near the headgates a short distance above the dam house. A number of boys who had been playing with the Lzfrran youngster furnished a description to the drowned boy’s father, Joseph Lzfrran, and the father, who had missed his son from the noonday meal at home, felt sure tonight that it was his boy.
A number of boys from ward 4 were enjoying a wood fire along the river edge when a rat darted along the path, and in attempting to catch the rat, the Lazfrran boy stepped on a raft which was lying in the water and in so doing lost his balance. Chester Nerkowski, 14 of 11 Fountain Street tried to save the drowning boy. Nerkowski was wearing a pair of rubber boots, and he walked into the water as far as he could and when the water reached to top of his boots he was forced to turn backward and watch his pal sink. The water will be drawn from the canals Sunday and at that time the body may be found; if the body went over the dam it may be many days or weeks before it is recovered inasmuch as ice has begun to form in the river.
From The Springfield Republican.
