s/o H.A. & Susan Crox
h/o Nora
Polk County News, March 1916
Two Men Drowned, Prominent Polk Countians
Two men attempting to cross the mouth of Ocoee in a small bateau were drowned about two o'clock Wednesday. One of them was Ben Crox, a brother of R. H. Crox, road commissioner of Hamilton County, and W. H. Crox of the State Highway Commission. The other man was Griffin Hale, son of Draton and Sarah Josephine Casson Hale.
Crox, whose mother Mrs. Susan Eldridge Crox, lives in east Chattanooga, resided on the home farm joining both the Ocoee and Hiwassee rivers. He is the son of Henry A. Crox. Hale started to Crox's to buy some stock, and Crox took the bateau across after him. Fayette Taylor was with Hale on the Taylor farm landing and got in to cross with them, but they let him back on the shore. He saying to Hale, "I am a better swimmer than you, but I am not willing to try to cross this river in that bateau" The bateau was very light and they only had a stick and a piece of rail for paddles.
Ocoee's current was running strong, nearly crossing the Hiwasse River. They could not control the bateau and were drifting down between the clear blue Ocoee and the pale yellow Hiwassee. Hale's brother-in-law Charles Runnion started running to the Crox barn for paddles to throw to them, but the frail bateau sunk under them. Hales jumped and swam toward the south bank, and Crox, who could not swim, kept clutching the bateau as it rolled over and over in the swift current and the waves. Hale waded on a sand oar, but drifted to where it dropped in deep water and disappeared, while Taylor had run up Ocoee to call Runnions to help Hale. There was no other boat nearer than Lee Boyd's nearly a mile down stream. Where they fell in was about twenty feet deep and in a swift current.
To begin the search for the bodies, two bateaux were brought three miles down the Hiwassee from Patty and Boyd's from upstream, later the McClary ferry boat was brought from Patty and the river being dragged for Crox.
Hales body was recovered nearby about dark. He was thirty-five years old and leaves a wife and two small children. Crox was twenty-eight and also leaves a wife and two small children. Crox's body was not recovered until three days later, on March 18.
Both men were prominent farmers and men of sobriety and excellent reputation. Hale was buried at Mount Hermon, with I.O.O.F. honors Thursday afternoon. Crox was buried in Benton Town Cemetery.
Obit provided by Marian Presswood
h/o Nora
Polk County News, March 1916
Two Men Drowned, Prominent Polk Countians
Two men attempting to cross the mouth of Ocoee in a small bateau were drowned about two o'clock Wednesday. One of them was Ben Crox, a brother of R. H. Crox, road commissioner of Hamilton County, and W. H. Crox of the State Highway Commission. The other man was Griffin Hale, son of Draton and Sarah Josephine Casson Hale.
Crox, whose mother Mrs. Susan Eldridge Crox, lives in east Chattanooga, resided on the home farm joining both the Ocoee and Hiwassee rivers. He is the son of Henry A. Crox. Hale started to Crox's to buy some stock, and Crox took the bateau across after him. Fayette Taylor was with Hale on the Taylor farm landing and got in to cross with them, but they let him back on the shore. He saying to Hale, "I am a better swimmer than you, but I am not willing to try to cross this river in that bateau" The bateau was very light and they only had a stick and a piece of rail for paddles.
Ocoee's current was running strong, nearly crossing the Hiwasse River. They could not control the bateau and were drifting down between the clear blue Ocoee and the pale yellow Hiwassee. Hale's brother-in-law Charles Runnion started running to the Crox barn for paddles to throw to them, but the frail bateau sunk under them. Hales jumped and swam toward the south bank, and Crox, who could not swim, kept clutching the bateau as it rolled over and over in the swift current and the waves. Hale waded on a sand oar, but drifted to where it dropped in deep water and disappeared, while Taylor had run up Ocoee to call Runnions to help Hale. There was no other boat nearer than Lee Boyd's nearly a mile down stream. Where they fell in was about twenty feet deep and in a swift current.
To begin the search for the bodies, two bateaux were brought three miles down the Hiwassee from Patty and Boyd's from upstream, later the McClary ferry boat was brought from Patty and the river being dragged for Crox.
Hales body was recovered nearby about dark. He was thirty-five years old and leaves a wife and two small children. Crox was twenty-eight and also leaves a wife and two small children. Crox's body was not recovered until three days later, on March 18.
Both men were prominent farmers and men of sobriety and excellent reputation. Hale was buried at Mount Hermon, with I.O.O.F. honors Thursday afternoon. Crox was buried in Benton Town Cemetery.
Obit provided by Marian Presswood
s/o H.A. & Susan Crox
h/o Nora
Polk County News, March 1916
Two Men Drowned, Prominent Polk Countians
Two men attempting to cross the mouth of Ocoee in a small bateau were drowned about two o'clock Wednesday. One of them was Ben Crox, a brother of R. H. Crox, road commissioner of Hamilton County, and W. H. Crox of the State Highway Commission. The other man was Griffin Hale, son of Draton and Sarah Josephine Casson Hale.
Crox, whose mother Mrs. Susan Eldridge Crox, lives in east Chattanooga, resided on the home farm joining both the Ocoee and Hiwassee rivers. He is the son of Henry A. Crox. Hale started to Crox's to buy some stock, and Crox took the bateau across after him. Fayette Taylor was with Hale on the Taylor farm landing and got in to cross with them, but they let him back on the shore. He saying to Hale, "I am a better swimmer than you, but I am not willing to try to cross this river in that bateau" The bateau was very light and they only had a stick and a piece of rail for paddles.
Ocoee's current was running strong, nearly crossing the Hiwasse River. They could not control the bateau and were drifting down between the clear blue Ocoee and the pale yellow Hiwassee. Hale's brother-in-law Charles Runnion started running to the Crox barn for paddles to throw to them, but the frail bateau sunk under them. Hales jumped and swam toward the south bank, and Crox, who could not swim, kept clutching the bateau as it rolled over and over in the swift current and the waves. Hale waded on a sand oar, but drifted to where it dropped in deep water and disappeared, while Taylor had run up Ocoee to call Runnions to help Hale. There was no other boat nearer than Lee Boyd's nearly a mile down stream. Where they fell in was about twenty feet deep and in a swift current.
To begin the search for the bodies, two bateaux were brought three miles down the Hiwassee from Patty and Boyd's from upstream, later the McClary ferry boat was brought from Patty and the river being dragged for Crox.
Hales body was recovered nearby about dark. He was thirty-five years old and leaves a wife and two small children. Crox was twenty-eight and also leaves a wife and two small children. Crox's body was not recovered until three days later, on March 18.
Both men were prominent farmers and men of sobriety and excellent reputation. Hale was buried at Mount Hermon, with I.O.O.F. honors Thursday afternoon. Crox was buried in Benton Town Cemetery.
Obit provided by Marian Presswood
h/o Nora
Polk County News, March 1916
Two Men Drowned, Prominent Polk Countians
Two men attempting to cross the mouth of Ocoee in a small bateau were drowned about two o'clock Wednesday. One of them was Ben Crox, a brother of R. H. Crox, road commissioner of Hamilton County, and W. H. Crox of the State Highway Commission. The other man was Griffin Hale, son of Draton and Sarah Josephine Casson Hale.
Crox, whose mother Mrs. Susan Eldridge Crox, lives in east Chattanooga, resided on the home farm joining both the Ocoee and Hiwassee rivers. He is the son of Henry A. Crox. Hale started to Crox's to buy some stock, and Crox took the bateau across after him. Fayette Taylor was with Hale on the Taylor farm landing and got in to cross with them, but they let him back on the shore. He saying to Hale, "I am a better swimmer than you, but I am not willing to try to cross this river in that bateau" The bateau was very light and they only had a stick and a piece of rail for paddles.
Ocoee's current was running strong, nearly crossing the Hiwasse River. They could not control the bateau and were drifting down between the clear blue Ocoee and the pale yellow Hiwassee. Hale's brother-in-law Charles Runnion started running to the Crox barn for paddles to throw to them, but the frail bateau sunk under them. Hales jumped and swam toward the south bank, and Crox, who could not swim, kept clutching the bateau as it rolled over and over in the swift current and the waves. Hale waded on a sand oar, but drifted to where it dropped in deep water and disappeared, while Taylor had run up Ocoee to call Runnions to help Hale. There was no other boat nearer than Lee Boyd's nearly a mile down stream. Where they fell in was about twenty feet deep and in a swift current.
To begin the search for the bodies, two bateaux were brought three miles down the Hiwassee from Patty and Boyd's from upstream, later the McClary ferry boat was brought from Patty and the river being dragged for Crox.
Hales body was recovered nearby about dark. He was thirty-five years old and leaves a wife and two small children. Crox was twenty-eight and also leaves a wife and two small children. Crox's body was not recovered until three days later, on March 18.
Both men were prominent farmers and men of sobriety and excellent reputation. Hale was buried at Mount Hermon, with I.O.O.F. honors Thursday afternoon. Crox was buried in Benton Town Cemetery.
Obit provided by Marian Presswood
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