Obituaries (January 14)

Henry Stone & Frank B. Hart
Hunters Believed Drowned

Utica Saturday Globe, November 1917

Henry Stone
1891 - 1917

 

Norwich [Chenango Co., NY]:  The disappearance of two well-known men while on a hunting expedition in the Adirondacks has caused their families and friends the deepest concern.  The men are Henry Stone, of Norwich, and Frank B. Hart, of Maybrook [Orange Co., NY], who, with Merritt L. Crook, R.E. Rowe and son, George and H.V. Hamilton, of this city, and M.J. Tobey of Oneonta, made up a hunting party.  Hart was formerly a resident here and only recently had removed to Maybrook. 

 

Saturday, November 3, Stone and Hart started to cross mud lake in a flat-bottomed steel boat.  They were on the way to the railroad station and carried a large deer, which Stone had shot and expected to ship to his home here.  They were sighted passing the hunting lodge of W.A. Lewis and from that time all trace of them was lost until last Monday, when the carcass of the deer, the oars from the boat, the men's hats and Stone's pack basket were found frozen in the ice that coated the lake.  Rescue parties had been busy and conducted a thorough and systematic search in the belief that the men had been drowned, as the boat used by them was small and overloaded with the weight of two men and the game they carried.  Tuesday a party of O.&W. employees went to the woods with  grappling hooks and other apparatus to continue the search and dynamite was used in the hope of recovering the bodies, as there seemed to be no doubt as to the fate of the hunters.  At the last report the boat had not been recovered, but the search was being carried on with unremitting zeal. The water was lowered in the lake by the opening the Horse Shoe dam. The ice hampered operations and made the search difficult, it being about two inches thick, not strong enough to walk on, but thick enough to seriously impede the progress of a boat.

 

At the time the men attempted to cross the lake a stiff breeze was blowing and the water was rough. Their craft, though small was considered capable of carrying the two men and the deer safely to their destination.  It was at first thought that the boat might have sprung a leak and they had been forced to land in swamp lands beyond the reach of their companions. As the days went by the hope of their being alive grew hourly more improbable and death by drowning seems the only explanation of their disappearance.

 

Frank B. Hart is the son of Mrs. Elizabeth A. Hart, of Mitchell street, and had always made his home here until a short time ago.  his age is about 45.  He is an O.&W. trainman.  Henry Stone is 28 years of age, a son of Eli Stone, of Gold street, and an employee in the Maydole hammer factory.  he is married and has a child about 15 months old. The men had gone to the woods on their annual hunting excursion. Stone was on his way home when the accident occurred.

 

Bodies of Hart and Stone Missing Since November Recovered

Norwich Sun, April 27, 1918

 

The bodies of Frank B. Hart and Henry Stone, Norwich hunters who have been missing in the Adirondacks since November 3, 1917, were discovered Friday.  Details concerning the finding of the two drowned bodies are lacking, only a brief wire being received by relatives here.  Aside from Stone and Hart, the hunting party of which they were members, consisted of Merritt L. Crook, R.E. Rowe, H.W. Hamilton of this city and M.J.  Tobey of Oneonta. The four men left Saturday morning for Mud lake, where the bodies rose to the surface, and will take charge of the remains which will be brought back to this city for burial.

 

Saturday morning, the third of November, while a blinding snow storm raged, Stone and Hart started for the station at Long Lake West in a flat bottomed steel boat with the deer which Stone had shot.  Long Lake West is a station on the Adirondack division of the New York Central railroad and to reach the depot by boat from the camp where the Norwich hunters were, it is necessary to row down to Mud lake, across the muddy water of the treacherous lake and down to the landing through a chain of seven lakes connected by Bog river.  Arrived at the landing, it is a 25 minutes walk to the railroad station.

 

After Hart and Stone left the camp on the journey to the landing, Crook started on foot around the lake, and down the river to Long Lake West, arriving there about noon.  The train leaves at 1:40 but he waited at the river landing until 1:15.  Crook, thinking that they were delayed and would probably get there in time for the 9 o'clock train that evening, left on the return hike to the camp in order to reach there before dark.  On the evening of the Saturday that the two hunters disappeared ice formed on the lakes from one to two inches in thickness, just enough to prevent a successful search.  Nevertheless every effort was made to find the bodies or some trace of the two men, but even draining off the water in Horseshoe dam failed to bring the bodies to the surface. The search was abandoned only after everything possible had been done to locate them.  Hope of finding the two men alive was not given up until their paddle, deer, a cap and glove, and a pack basket were discovered.  The fourteen foot boat in which the hunters set out for the river landing was built with two air-tight compartments, but even these failed to save the lives of the daring hunters.

 

Funeral arrangements for the tow men will be completed as soon as the party of local men return from Mud lake with the recovered bodies.

Bodies Brought Home

Norwich Sun, April 29, 1918

The bodies of Frank B. Burt and Henry Stone of this city [Norwich, Chenango Co., NY] were brought home Monday morning and were taken in the sealed caskets to Mt. Hope cemetery [Norwich, NY]. Their funeral services were conducted in the chapel of Mt. Hope at 2:30 o'clock in the afternoon. Rev. Robert L. Clark conducted the solemn double service after which interment was made. The bodies were discovered in Bog Pond, three miles from Long Lake West in the North Woods last Thursday. The men had been missing since November 3 when they were accidentally drowned while on a hunting trip.  Constant search was kept up for several weeks for the bodies but it was unavailing and when ice formed efforts to recover the bodies were suspended until spring.

Obituary - Frank Burton Hart

Norwich Sun, May 1, 1918

 

 

Frank Burton Hart

1872 - 1917

 

Frank Burton Hart was born June 30, 1872, at Sherburne [Chenango Co., NY] and died November 3, 1917, drowned in Mud Pond which he was crossing on his way home from a hunting trip.  About twenty-one years ago he was married to Miss Mabel Waters of Oneonta.  She survives him, also his mother, Mrs. A.E. Hart of this city, and one sister, Mrs. Maurice Hoke of Oswego.  practically all his life was spent in Norwich.  A railroad man, he was for most of the time employed by the O.&W., but at the time of his death he was working for the Central New England R.R. company and residing at Maybrook [Orange Co., NY].  Two uncles of Mr. Hart are Methodist ministers, Rev. Frederick Hart being a pastor in Indiana, the other for whom he was named, Rev. Frank L. Hart, being a prominent officer in the Church insurance company, with headquarters at Chicago.  Mr. Hart was a true and devoted husband and son, kind and good in his family relations and loyal to his friends of whom he had a great number who were shocked and grieved at his sudden and tragic death. The body was not recovered until this spring and the funeral service of Mr. Hart and of Henry Stone who were drowned at the same time, was held at the mortuary chapel with interment in Mount Hope cemetery Monday afternoon, Rev. Robert L. Clark of the Broad Street M.E. Church officiating.