TPC subscriber Jean Schumm (RR#1 Box 547, Lawrence, NE 68957) sent copies of pages from the June 7, 1935 edition of The Benkelman Post and News-Chronicle of Dundy County, NE. In addition to the following articles included on those pages are "Child is Lost Despite Heroic Efforts of Father", "Three Rescued with a Team and Wagon", "Death List Mounts to 168 in Valley...", "Gov. Cochran Calls Meeting...". The lead article states, "Heavy rains, downpours and cloudbursts last Thursday night and Fr iday morning united in bringing about the greatest flood in all Republican valley history and with it the destruction of life and property on a scale never before equalled in Southwestern Nebraska."
When all reports are compiled and the real facts known, we believe that the Benkelman community will have suffered a greater death total than any section in the entire flood area and one of the saddest and most pitiful of all will be the tragedy of the passing of Mr. and Mrs. James Robbin Pettit and their six children who were trapped in the attic of a small house on the river bottom on the Caster farm and who went to their death, the eight as one, without the least shadow of a chance to save their lives. And there was heroism there too, and plenty of it, because Mr. Pettit and his eldest son Edward, 18 years of age, could no dou bt had a good chance to leave the family and perhaps get to high land before the flood reached its crest. When Heinie Frenzen and Arthur Shaver swam out to their little home, Mr. Pettit said he didn't want to leave his family - "that they were so badly scared and afraid." He said they had tried to get out when the water was first discovered around their house but that the waves were so high that he feared that most of the younger children at least would drown. He said that they had been in the attic all night and that it was only three feet high and that they were badly cramped and were very uncomfortable. The fact that they were both wet and hungry added greatly to their discomfort.
Surveying the situation, Shaver and Frenzen realized that it was impossible for them to effect a rescue as it was only thru holding hands and using their every physical resource that they were able to get out to the house. They decided to go to town or seek help from whatever source possible. When they reached high ground again about twelve men had gathered but their was nothing in the way of equipment with which to do anything. Rescue plans were under discussion when a three foot raise in the crest of the flood struck the house and it appeared to either collapse or disappear. This happened no longer than fifteen minutes after they had left the house.
A rescue squad had previously been organized in town and a raft and a rescue device of oil barrels had been formulated and cable and rope had been secured and loaded into a truck and near thirty men who are rated as good swimmers assembled but the flood's progress had been too rapid and the relief crew arrived on the scene about fifteen minutes too late.
The building had completely disappeared from view in a hole that the water washed near it and it was not known until the next morning what had really become of it. At dawn the next morning Frank Walsh organized a crew that removed the bodies. They were brought to town and placed in the Lyric theatre building just as the seven o'clock whistle blew.
Heinie Frenzen, Arthur Shaver and Joe Owens started to Parks at near five o'clock Friday morning upon receipt of news that the town was in distress. At the Pringle ranch they learned that the road was out. Joe walked on into Parks and Heinie and Art remained at the Pringle ranch where they were told of the possibility of the Pettit family being marooned. Mr. Pringle had sent his men down to the house earlier in the morning to find out if they were there. The water was rising rapidly and they did not quite get to the house. They shouted several times and not being able to get a response concluded that the family had vacated before the flood waters reached them. The same theory was held at the Caster ranch. But after getting to the house and talking to the family Frensen and Shaver found that because of the fact that they were lodged in the attic, it was impossible to hear or be heard at any distance.
Funeral services were held at the Lyric building by Rev. Frank Woodward Monday afternoon, at the conclusion of which the eight caskets were all loaded into J.M. DeWester's large truck and taken to the Benkelman cemetery for burial.
It was one of those pitiful, sorrowful occasions that challenges the power of words to describe.
The James Robbin Pettit family were good people, they lived unpretentious but useful lives. Both Mr. and Mrs. Pettit were reared here and their children were born here. A large family in the midst of the country's greatest depression had tried their very souls but the same courage sustained them then as it did in the last tragic minutes of their lives when the father said, "I cannot leave my family. They are so afraid."