MORGAN, Elisah Drowns (1866)
A most unfortunate affair occurrence transpired a few hundred yards above the Ferry on last Wednesday evening. An old gentleman by the name of MORGAN, a renter on the place of Wiley FORT, about three miles north of here, in company with his sons, some three or four in number, went into the Hatchie to bathe; the elder one of whom, Elisah by name and a citizen of Pontotoc, Mississippi, aged 21 years, ventured too far out into the current and was drowned in full view of those he had loved and cherished from infancy. Several gentlemen were nearby and had they known that the cries which they heard were proceeding from one struggling for his life, could have rendered valuable assistance and could have rescued the unfortunate from a watery grave. Mr. MORGAN had just arrived at his father’s house in the full bloom of health and by sundown was prey to the fishes of the treacherous Hatchie. He leaves a family in Pontotoc to mourn his loss.
The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.), 07 July 1866, Page 3. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.