{The Courier-Journal}
Louisville Monday Morning, August 4th, 1930.

Six Rescued when craft overturns - ALL victims related.
5 Tots, Man drowns in the Ohio River.

Youth Aids Girl to Shore, and a Rowboat Rescues 3 Children.

        Six persons, five of them children slipped to their deaths beneath the surface of the Ohio River, two miles below Orell, Ky. at 11.30 o'clock Sunday morning when a flat boat containing twelve people capsized about 150 yards from the shore. Four more children were rescued.



The tragedy struck in three families, all related. They had gone to a summer camp located on the property of Mrs. Malinda Madden, seventeen miles below Louisville to spend the Sunday holiday. The camp had been rented during the summer by Leo Guenthner, 21, son of the drowned man and a friend, Lawrence Shacklette, 19, of 1720 Bolling Avenue.

The small boat, powered by a outboard motor had crossed the stream to the Indiana side and after moving with the current for some few yards had turned its blunt nose toward the Kentucky shore.

The river was extremely rough, according to fisherman in the vicinity, and when the boat started making its way back the waves began lapping over the sides of the craft. The boat was low in the water because of the large number of passengers.

Just as it neared the shore, with Leo Guenthner and Shacklette operating the boat, it suddenly flipped over throwing everyone into the water, according to Virgil Marshall, 26, of 856 South Twenty-second Street, who was sitting on the bank nearby.

Panic followed, according to Marshall, who said some of the children began screaming for help while floundering in the water. Leo Guenthner succeeded in getting three of the children on top of the overturned boat while he hung to the side to see that they did not fall off. Shacklette swam to shore with another of the children.

Marshall, who said he seemed "paralyzed" for a moment before moving, ran up the stream fifty yards to get a boat at the fishing camp of Charles Hager, 56, of 1226 Beech Street. With Hanger he rowed to the overturned boat and brought Leo Guenthner and the three children to shore.

Meanwhile, Loe's father, Joseph Guenthner and His Sister, Matilda, 12, had sunk beneath the surface with their four cousins.

Another son of the drowned man, Joseph L. Guenthner, 23, who was with his mother in the camp about two blocks from the drowning scene, heard the cries for help and also hurried there.

Joseph hurriedly drove in an automobile to the United States Coast Guard Station, Fourth Street and the River and returned with the Coast Guardsmen Walter Fugitt and Frank Pezzulo dispatched to the scene by Capt. Walter Farrell. They recovered all of the bodies in the exact spot where the tragedy occurred, several hours later.

Marshall, who was seated on the bank of the river with Miss Marie Evens, 853 South Third Street, said he saw the persons start out in the boat about half an hour before the accident occurred. He said he thought at the time that the boat was overloaded and started to mention it but refrained.

County authorities, including Capt. Ambrose Hagerman, chief of County Police and Thomas Dover, jailer of Jefferson County rushed to the scene to aid County Patrolmen Carl Horn and Arthur Hagerman were called from duty on the Dixie Highway and hurried to the scene.

The three children rescued from the overturned boat were Alvin Guenthner, 4, another son of William Guenthner, Cletus Guenthner, 9, and William Guenthner, 6, both sons of the drowned man. Anna Mae Heichelbech, 14, sister of the drowned girl was helped to shore by Shacklette.

Another relative, John Guenthner, living at Mary's Lane and the Cane Run Road, arrived at the camp about 3:30 o'clock Sunday afternoon with his family. He knew nothing of the tragedy until reaching the camp.

Several hundred persons, hearing of the drowning, gathered on the river bank while coast guardsmen dragged for the bodies. Coroner Roy L. Carter viewed the bodies after they were recovered and said deaths were caused by drowning. The summer cottage had been named Camp Katy.

The three children of William Guenthner are survived, besides their father, by two brothers, Alvin and Jude Theodore Guenthner and three sisters, Catherine, Wilhelmina and Frances.

Joseph Guenthner is survived by his wife, Mary Guenthner and sons, Joseph, Leo, August, Urban, Louis, Jerome, Cletus and William Guenthner. Funeral services for the drowned man and his daughter, Matilda, will be held at 7:45 o'clock Tuesday morning at Holy Name Catholic Church. Burial will be in St. Michael's Cemetery.

The Heichelbech child is survived by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Louis Heichelbech, two sisters, Masie and Anna May Heichelbech and six brothers, Maurice, Norbert, August, Eugene, Edward John and Kenneth Heichelbech.

Mail to: ceoorg@charter.net