Deaths In Acadia National Park;
Bar Harbor Times
June 19, 1915
Sad Accident Of Bar Harbor Boy On Bar Sunday
Francis Hamor, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ansel A. Hamor of Bar Harbor, was drowned on Sunday afternoon on the bar leading to Bar Island, as he and another small boy - George Landers, where making their way to their camp on the island. He was 7 tears, 6 months and 24 days of age. The boy's mother is suffering severly from the shock.
Many conflicting stories are told as to how the accident happened but it appears from information secured by Chief of Police Gerry, who was called to the scene, that the happenings were as follows; The tide had not wholly left the bar as the boys started to cross and the Hamor boy began to wade across the strip next to Bar Island which had not been left bare. The Landers boy refused to go and returned to the Bar Harbor side. He threw rocks into the water and killed some time until the tide went out. Then it was that he joined some other boys on the other side and asked them if they had seen the Hamor boy. They said they had not.
Then the search began. Some of the boys went to the camp but failed to find him. Cecil Hodgkins, a young man who happened to be some distance away on the beach, inquired of the boys if the one who had started across had arrived safely and sent the Landers boy to get the Hamor boy's father - Bert Hamor, as he is generally known, at his home on Strawberry Hill. Mr. Hamor rushed to the scene. A man in a row boat soon put in an appearance and when his services were asked, rowed around Bar Island to get on the other side of the bar and began searching up and down the length of the bar. The body was found in about three feet of water and brought ashore. Mr. Hamor than went and notified Mr. Gerry who at once sent for doctors. In the meantime Dr. Fremont Smith's son began to administer first aid. Doctor's who arrived found a flutter of the heart and at once rushed the boy to the hospital. Everything that could be done was done but without avail as the boy had been in the water for about two hours.
Scratches were found about the face but according to those who examined the body there appeared to be no badbruises which would indicate that the boy had been stunned by striking his head in a fall. It is rather the opinion that he walked into a deep hole and was unable to get back within his depth and that the scratches were those received from sharp shells as the tide rolled him over the beach. The fact that it was about two hours from the time the boy must have fallen into the water until he was taken out is thought to bear out the theory that he had fallen into a deep hole, the lapse of time accounting for the receding of the tide to the depth of about three feet. The fact that no one saw the accident and that no one knew that the boy was in the water seems to be accountable for the tragedy. The police feel that they should always be notified immediately in all such cases. Funeral services were held at the home on the May Drive, Strawberry Hill on Tuesday afternoon, Rev. Dr. F.A. Leitch officiating, and internment was at Ledgelawn Cemetery.
