1925 or 1926
3 BOYS TRAPPED IN CAVE AT PLAY ONE LOSES LIFE! (FROM THE ABERDEEN (IDAHO) TIMES
The entire community was saddened last Saturday noon when the news reached town that Kurt Klassen was dead and two other boys had a narrow escape when a cave in which they were playing caved in entombing the three lads.
Irwin, 13 years old; Kurt 9, Otto 7, sons of Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius Klassen and Jonny 11, and Tommy 9, sons of Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Nelson were digging a cave to play in on top of the east side of the lane, one mile west of town, near the Frank Westfall home while they were herding the Klassen herd.
Nelson, (unreadable), boys had dug their tunnel several feet into the side hill and were enlarging the cavity on the inside to afford room for play when the three feet roofing caved in on them. Irvin and Kurt Klassen and Johnny Nelson were in the cave at the time of the slide and were entombed, all being close to each other but rendered unconscious and helpless by the blow.
Otto Klassen saw the dirt roll into the hole as he was starting to turn the cattle, but did not realize what it meant until he returned a few minutes later and couldn’t find his playmates. He and the smaller Nelson boy then in their fright ran to the Westfall home but could not tell their story until they recovered from the scare. Mrs. Westfall then summoned her husband and their hired man, who rushed from the field to the scene of the accident immediately proceeding to dig the lads out of the tomb. Mrs. Westfall summoned the parents and notified neighbors.
In the absence of Dr. MacKinnon, J.T. Dvorak, druggist, arrived about the time the boys were taken out of the cave and put forth all efforts in restoring the lives of the lads. Irwin and John soon showed signs of life, and were survived, but Kurt was evidently killed instantly by the falling dirt and showed no signs of life at any time. Dr. Shilts of American Falls, who was summoned by telephone, arrived on the scene about half an hour after the accident happened and administered his services in complete restoration of the living boys, expressing his belief that the other lad was killed by the falling earth and could not have been brot to life even though a doctor had been at hand immediately. The little boys notified Mrs. Westfall of the tragedy at about 11 o’ clock and it took the men about fifteen minutes to shovel the large pile of dirt off the bodies. Had the cave in occurred a few minutes sooner all five boys would have been entombed as the two smaller boys had just crawled out of the tunnel before it tumbled in. The grieved parents then took the boys to their respective homes, rejoicing over the restoration of the two saved lads, while the entire community bore grief and sadness with Klassens over the loss of Kurt, the victim of the tragedy.
The funeral of Kurt Klassen was held Monday afternoon at 2 P.M. from the Klassen home a half mile west of town. Services were held over the body at the Homestead Mennonite church conducted by Rev. Warwas of the American Falls Baptist church and Rev F. Goldschagg, non-denominational Minister of the Gospel, from Walla Walla, Washington, who was called here specifically for the funeral, and internment took place in the cemetery near the church.
The almost pouring rain did not keep the mourning community from paying last respects to one of its bright young boys, whom everybody knew and liked, and the large congregation followed the body to its final resting place, offering the bereaved parents every assistance, and comforting words, and decorating the casket and grave with large reathes and boquets of flowers.
I have left the spelling exactly as it appeared in the Aberdeen Times.
*My dad always told me that Kurt did not die immediately. His mouth was jarred open on the rim of his bucket where he inhaled dirt. My dad’s face fell into his straw hat where he had a pocket of air which saved his life. He said they were communicating telepathically with one another, and that he was filled with an incredible sense of well-being, and left with a knowledge that death was not frightening. On another sad note, when my grandma Nelson was running to where my dad was, she tripped over a ditch and miscarried.
I have left the spelling exactly as it appeared in the Aberdeen Times.
Grandma Nelson also told me that my dad had been a very shy person from birth, always hiding behind her skirts, and that the cave-in changed him not for the better, and that he never fully recovered.
THE ABERDEEN SCHOOL
