- From The Granite Falls News, Thursday, July 26, 1945 -
"Young Mother Drowns In Effort to Save Son. Swimming Party Sunday Ends in Tragedy on Hulke Bar; Third Drowning Narrowly Averted. A re-union of the Phillip Kruse family ended in tragedy Sunday afternoon when two members of the group were drowned and a third narrowly escaped death in the Minnesota River at the Hulke bar. Mrs. Allen Miller, 32, (Lorina Kruse) lost her life when she tried in vain to save her son, Allen Jr., 14, from the river. Both bodies were recovered two hours later. Miss Mable Kruse, 18, narrowly escaped death and was pulled from the river by Robert Lund. Ernest (Pat) Kruse, 29, had a difficult time getting back to shore after trying to help the others.
The Kruse family reunion was being held at the Kruse home on highway 67 across from the Granite golf course. The Ernest Kruse family was back from Wisconsin and Mr. and Mrs. Allen Miller and three children were there from their farm six miles south of Wood Lake.
About one thirty a swimming party was proposed and the group of eight started for the Hulke bar, about two miles down the river. The group included Mrs. Allen Miller and son, Allen Jr., Ernest Kruse and four-year-old daughter, Elaine, Miss Mable Kruse, Ervin Just, 30, and five-year-old daughter, Dolores, and Phillip Kruse Jr., 8.
There are two sand bars in back of Hulke's and this group of swimmers went in off the upper bar.
They hadn't been in the water five minutes, according to Ernest Kruse, when the little Miller boy got beyond his depth and caught in the undertow. He called for help.
Mable Kruse started towards the boy and caught hold of him. She got him almost to shallow water when she, too was pulled under by the swift current.
Ernest Kruse, who had been helping his little girl paddle about in the shallow water, hurriedly took her to shore so that he could help.
Meanwhile Mrs. Miller, Allen's mother, who was standing on the bank, rushed into the water to reach her son and her sister who were in distress just a few feet away.
From that point on the story is not too clear for no one knows just what happened. They all shouted "Help" in an effort to attract help.
Ernest said he reached the two girls but was dragged under and when he came to the surface they were beyond reach. The current is so stiff at this point in the river that it was difficult for an experienced swimmer to make any headway.
Robert Lund, son-in-law of Henry Hulke, was standing in back of the house, which is about 100 yards from the river, when he heard yells from that direction. He thought nothing of it at first because, as he told The Tribune, "Whenever people go in swimming down there they do a lot of yelling and make a lot of noise." Then he heard a call for help and he ran towards the bank, which weeds hid from his view.
"When I got to the river," Lund told The Tribune, "I saw two or three people standing on the upper bar and some others struggling in the water out from the bar. It's been a long time since I have done any swimming so I knew I would need a boat to help them much. There was a boat on the lower bar (about a hundred feet below the upper bar) and I ran down to get that but found it was chained and locked. Then I yelled for someone to help me get that boat. As I was tugging at that chain, I saw the two women come floating down the river. There was a rope in the boat and I grabbed that and threw it out, yelling to them to catch on to it. One of them did catch the rope and I pulled her out. The other woman floated past then when I looked again she had disappeared."
Other people had been attracted by the shouts for help and a telephone call was made for the rescue squad. This call was received at about 2 o'clock or shortly after. The call was relayed to members of the fire department and to the swimmers at Memorial park beach. The fact that the call didn't locate the place other than "near Sebring"s" caused some delay.
The members of the fire department started for the drowning, as did also Philip Minelli, life guard at Memorial park, with a group of swimmers who were at the beach. Boats and drag hooks were taken to the river bank by the Formo dray.
For two hours the divers probed the 14-feet of water for 200 yards below the upper bar, while men in boats criss-crossed this stretch to drag the bottom. The current was so stiff that a number of expert swimmers told The Tribune they had difficulty in making any headway against it. Diving was also difficult because of the water-logged brush in the bottom of the river.
It was about 4 o'clock that Pfc. Bill Ross, son of Mr. and Mrs. Alex Ross, a wounded Indian soldier home on convalescent leave, recovered the body of the little boy in 14 feet of water from the upper bar and approximately in the place where he was seen to go down.
A few minutes later Eric Bakke, Northern States employee and expert swimmer, recovered the body of Mrs. Miller from eight or nine feet of water down the river about 150 yards from the upper bar.
It was a sad group that gathered at the Philip Kruse home after the bodies had been recovered Sunday afternoon. Friends dropped in to do what they could to alleviate the grief of the family, and of Allen Miller and his two remaining children, Joyce, 9, and Ernest, 4.
Funeral services were planned for this afternoon from the home and from the Posen church at 2 o'clock for both Mrs. Miller and son, Allen Jr. Interment will be in the St. Paul 's cemetery in Granite Falls ."
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1931 - 1945 (14 years)
