GRANT WALLACE

Hartford Herald

March 4, 1891

GRANT WALLACE DROWNED

Three Young Men go Out Duck Hunting and

One is Brought Back a Corpse

DEATH OF A KENTUCKY GIANT

The body of Grant Wallace, who was drowned near West Point, Saturday was brought to Rosine Sunday and buried at the Mt. Pleasant graveyard Monday morning. The remains were accompanied by Charlie Curley, who was with Wallace at the time of his drowning. Grant Wallace was a son of Mr. Samuel Wallace, who lives in this county, between Rosine and Select. Grant had been working with Charley Curley on the N. N. & M. V. road. The last place they were stationed was at West Point. They did not work Saturday, but concluded to go on a duck hunting expedition. The Courier-Journal of Sunday gives the following account of the drowning:

"A Kentucky giant was drowned in the Ohio river a few miles this side of West Point late yesterday afternoon. His name was Grant Wallace. He measured six feet and ten inches in height. The coffin which was shipped for his body last evening by Wyatt & Cralle was seven feet three inches from end to end. It was one of the largest ever made in this city, and, except that used for the remains of the famous Jim Porter, it has rarely been surpassed here in point of size.

"Wallace was a railroad man. He was in charge of a corps of men employed on the N. N. & M. V. railroad when he met his death. Wallace's home was at Rosine, Ky., and he had only been at West Point a short while.

"In company with two friends, Wallace hired a skiff and went a short distance up the river duck hunting. The party did not meet with success out in the stream and they rowed into the backwaters, which spread across the fields. While rowing swiftly toward the bank, the frail skiff ran into a stump which had been partly concealed by the flood. At this point there is a side current in the river, and when the boat struck it, it was capsized in a twinkling. The three young men strove hard to save their lives. Wallace's friends succeeded in grasping parts of the broken skiff. They were whirled rapidly onward, and would probably have lost their lives, but for the assistance of a farmer who saw the accident. On account of the high water he had a skiff tied at his door, and in this he was soon rowing rapidly to their assistance. They had gotten into a swift current, and the farmer had to row several hundred yards before he succeeded in pulling them, half dead, into his boat.

"After recalling the circumstances of the accident, the young men remembered Wallace, and they assisted in pulling the skiff to where they had been thrown out. A long search discovered Wallace's body tangled in some underbrush in the back waters. The small branches were torn and showed plainly that he had struggled hard for his life. The remains were placed in the skiff and taken to the shore. A wagon was procured and the procession proceeded to Went Point. Coroner J. O. Fischer was notified, and after the inquest returned a verdict in accordance with the facts as above related. Wyatt & Cralle, of this city, were notified by telephone to make the coffin, which was shipped to West Point last night.

"Wallace was not only remarkably tall, but he was also well-proportioned. He was twenty-five years of age, and was said to have been possessed of unusually handsome features. His gigantic stature caused him to be looked upon with wonder and admiration wherever he went."