A SHOCKING TRAGEDY

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 134, 3 December 1918, Page 3

A SHOCKING TRAGEDY

MOTHER AND THREE CHILDREN PERISH. DROWNED IN~A~WATER HOLE. One of the saddest tragedies recorded in Victoria occurred on Tuesday, 12th November, when the wife and thro© children of Mr. Walter Pratt, farmer and grazier, of' Pranjip, about eight miles from Euroa, were drowned in a dam on the property. The only witness of the tragedy was a seven-year-old boy, and his account is very incoherent. It appears that this child and his sister, Susie, aged about ten years, were playing near the dam, and the girl decided to have a ride in an old tub which was floating in tho dam. Sho undressed and sat on the frail boat, which overturned, and she was thrown into -the water. The boy summoned an elder girl, Mary, aged 12, who was near by. The dam has very steep sides, near where the tub. drifted, and there, are also a number of deep holes. The girl, Mary, soon got into difficulties and' fell in. With this second tragedy happening before his eyes the little boy was quite distracted. He rah to the homestead and acquainted his mother, who apparently rushed to the dam and met tho same fate as her two girl*. The eldest boy shortly afterwards arrived homo from Ijongwood Station, to which he h«d driven his father, who was going to Melbourne on. business. He was attracted to the dam by the shrieks of his mother, and immediately tried to render assistance, but, unfortunately, he was unable to swim, and, getting into one of the holes, was also drowned. Sobbing pitifully, the little boy then went for assistance to the residence of Mr. R. CulJen, distant about two, miles. Mr. and Mrs. Cullen immediately went to the scene of the tragedy, and Mr. Cullen's eon, with the assistance of Mr. Grosvenor and Mr. J. Hogan, other neighbours,' dragged the hole in i the moonlight and recovered all the bodies. Mr. Pratt came to the district only a few months ago from the vicinity of Dollar, near Foster, on tho South Gippsland line. He is now left with four young children, tho baby being 20 months old and the eldest the seven-year-old boy.