Boy, 4, Drowns In Sand Creek
Body of Dickie Fast Found By Rescue Workers Two Hours Later. Pulmotor is Used. Children Had Been Playing Near the Water at Athletic Park. Dickie Fast, four-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank B. Fast, Santa Fe apartments, 400 West Fourth, was drowned in Sand Creek at Athletic park, Tuesday afternoon about 3 o’clock (Jan. 31). His body was recovered nearly two hours later and rushed to the Axtell Christian hospital where a pulmotor was used, but resuscitation was impossible. The child evidently fell into the creek while playing on the bank with two small companions, Henrietta Chalfant, colored, and George Mears, who live in the West Fourth neighborhood. The playmates first said that Dickie fell thru a hole in the diving platform on the west side of the creek, yet his body was found on the east side of Fourth street about ten feet from the bank. One foot was sunk deep in the mud, and he was bent over, his back protruding out of the water. Chief of Police J. W. Brown, assisted by members of the police and fire department and a number of others dragged the creek for about an hour before the little form was discovered near the east bank. Mrs. Fast and Mrs. Chalfant, becoming alarmed over the absence of their children, had started to the creek in search of them when they met the little colored girl and the Mears child coming home pulling a little wagon. They asked where Dickie was, and the children said he had fallen into the creek. This was about 3 o’clock. The two women hurried to the creek and hunted for the child. About an hour later the police department was summoned to the scene. The father of the drowned boy is employed as truck driver for the Welsh Transfer company. It was almost 5 o’clock Tuesday afternoon before he knew about his son. There are three other children in the family, two boys older than Dickie, and a small baby. Funeral services will be held Thursday afternoon at 3 o’clock at the Duff and Son Funeral Parlors, conducted by Rev. Harold Dickins of the First Christian Church. Interment will take place in Greenwood cemetery. The Evening Kansan-Republican, Newton KS. February 1, 1928. Page 1.
Richard Wayne Fast, was born in North Dakota Aug. 21st 1924. He was the third son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank B. Fast who live at 400 West 4th St. Little Dickey, as he was known, wandered away from home on last Tuesday, January 31, and in some way got into the water at Sand Creek, and was drowned. He was 3 years 5 months and 10 days old. He leaves besides his father and mother, two brothers and a baby sister, and a host of friends. The Evening Kansan-Republican, Newton KS. February 2, 1928. Page 3.
