Individual Details

Death

A 9-year-old Tulsa boy drowned Monday afternoon in the abandoned brick pit just east of Roosevelt junior high school. The tragedy occurred as backers of a petition to have the pit drained and filled awaited action by city officials. The lifeless body of Gary Glen Furr, son of Mrs. Thelma Beller, 311 W. Easton pl., and Albert Glen Furr of Wyoming was recovered from the pit's bottom in 20 feet of water about 5 p. m, some 45 minutes after the boy had toppled in from a bank where he was playing. The water is 40 feet deep in some spots in the pit. Four horrified youngsters, also playing in the pit, watched the boy topple into the water from a steep bank after earth crumbled under his feet. Two youths playing with the victim, apparently frightened, fled from the scene after seeing him fall into the water. No one had discovered their identity Monday night. However, two other boys playing on an adjacent wall of the pit saw the tragedy, and after seeing the youth go under the water ran to Roosevelt school to report it. T. H. Briggs, assistant principal, said the youths came running to him shortly after 4 p. m. He immediately summoned police, firemen, an ambulance and doctor. Patrol Officers Herb Hartz and Woody Wilson, among the first of the rescuers to arrive at the scene, stripped to their underclothing and dived into the icy waters. They continued diving until the body was recovered. Firemen from Central's squad No. 1 set to work with probing poles and a grappling hook in a rescue boat. Fire Capt. Paul Skelton recovered the body with a grappling hook about 5 p. m. A futile attempt to revive the youth was made on the water's edge by Dr. E. Lee Gentry, police physician, while hundreds of angered spectators growled at lack of action in removing the city’s danger spots and eyesores. Dr. Gentry said attempts at revival were totally unsuccessful, adding the boy's body had been under water at least 45 minutes before it was recovered. Dramatic identity of the victim was made at the pit's edge by his sister, Donna Furr, a 9th grade student at Roosevelt. The youth had already been taken to a hospital, and Police Chief Joe McGuire was contemplating how to get the boy identified when the girl walked up and asked if he'd been identified. She said her brother had been playing at the pit and had not returned home. After a short query of how her brother was dressed, police ascertained he probably was the victim. The stricken sister fainted when it became evident her brother was the drowning victim. Positive identification of the youth was made later by his mother at Hillcrest Medical center. The two young boys who witnessed and reported the fall and drowning were Roy Brewer, son of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Brewer, 2505 W. Easton st., and Roy Smith, son of Mr. and Mrs. Roy L. Smith, 2701 W. Brady st. They said the other three boys were playing on the west wall of the pit, about half-way up where a scraggy tree grows outward, when the dirt gave way beneath the Furr lad and he fell. “He grabbed at a branch of the tree and caught it," Roy Brewer said, “but he couldn't hold on. He finally slipped and slid into the water. “We saw him come up four or five times and heard him yelling,” the boys said, “but we didn't know . . .”.
Tulsa Daily World, Tulsa, Oklahoma, January 26, 1954