Two newspaper articles

# 1 - - Pilot-Tribune, April 4, 1935

TRAGEDY ENDS PICNIC PARTY AS GIRL DIES

BLAIR SIXTH GRADE PUPIL MET DEATH LAST WEEK IN SLIDING

POSSIBLY A HEART ATTACK, SAYS DOCTOR

PROMINENT BLAIR SCHOOLGIRL, 11, IN FATALITY WHILE PICNICKING LAST THURSDAY; THRONG ATTENDS FUNERAL SERVICE SUNDAY

Tragedy cast its shadow over a group of young picnickers late last Thursday evening, when Ruth Krogh, 11, Blair sixth grade pupil, met death in sliding through a culvert drain while attending a picnic at the scout grounds southeast of Blair. Chloe Montgomery, daughter of Superintendent and Mrs. I. J. Montgomery, was hostess at the party.

Ruth, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Krogh of Blair, had gone to the picnic grounds about 5:30 with 12 other small friends. While the picnickers were collecting wood for a huge bonfire that was to have been built, a small group of the girls came upon the steep culvert drain which rose from highway 73 to the bottom of one of the deep “fills” along the road.

STRUCK CROSS-BEAM

Ruth decided to slide through the large pipe, and accordingly climbed inside the tubular opening. Waving to her friends she went hurtling down through the iron culvert. The other three girls, Mary Ann Robinson, Jane Hitchman and Chloe Montgomery, said they heard a thud as Ruth struck a cross-beam in the pipe while speeding through it.

They rushed to the culvert’s lower exit to find the girl, apparently unconscious. Miss Elsie Hughes, sixth grade teacher, and Mrs. I.J. Montgomery, who were collecting wood some distance away, were hastinly called. They carried Ruth up to the highway, where an auto containing an Omaha physician was hailed. The Omaha man rushed the girl into Blair to a doctor, but she was pronounced dead on arrival.

HEART ATTACK IS THEORY

One physician stated that death might possibly have been caused by a heart attack. He explained that Ruth had just recovered from the mumps, and that her heart was probably weak. The slide through the culvert may have caused a fatal heart attack, he said, but the fact that she struck the cross-beam probably would have caused her death anyway.

Ruth Jenette Krogh was born at Blair May 25, 1924, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Krogh. Shge entered the Blair Central school in the fall of 1929, and had often won high praise for her excellent scholastic records.

SECOND PLAY CAST DEATH

Several weeks ago Ruth was a member of the cast of the fifth and sixth grade operetta, “The King’s Sneezes.” An odd fact is noted in that her passing was the second fatality in the play cast within a week. LaVerne Klabunde, 11, also a sixth grade pupil, died last Tuesday of blood poisoning. He had played the leading male role, that of the king, in the class operetta.

Surviving Ruth in addition to her parents are three sisters, Marjorie, Marian and Dorothy (“Betty”), and a brother, Robert, aged two months; also surviving is Ruth’s grandmother, Mrs. C.S. Paradies, Douglas, Nebraska, who has been visiting here.

Funeral services were conducted Sunday afternoon at 2:30 at the Congregational church, with Rev. Arthur F. Newell, the pastor, in charge. A large crowd of schoolmates and friends of the girl and family packed the church for the rites. Music was furnished by the following quartet: Inabelle Stricklett, Charlotte Armstead, Louis Armstead and Hilton Rhoades.

Pall-bearers were sic schoolmates: Billy Larson, James Williams, Joseph Gutschow, Richard Bartley, Ralph Brown, and Marcus Beck Jr. Interment was in the Blair Cemetery.

CARD OF THANKS It is our sincere desire to express appreciation to our many friends who so kindly assisted us during our recent bereavement, following the passing of our beloved Ruth Jenette. To the singers and those who sent floral offerings we also send thanks. Your kindness will ever be remembered. - - Mr. and Mrs. Ray F. Krogh and Family; Her grandmother, Mrs. C. S. Paradies.

# 2 - - from The Enterprise, April 4, 1935

RUTH KROGH DIES; IS 2nd IN CLASS WITHIN 10 DAYS.

MEETS END WHILE ENJOYING SCHOOL PICNIC LAST THURSDAY

A FAVORED STUDENT

Ruth Krugh, eleven-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ray Krogh, met instant death last Thursday while in attendance at a school picnic held in the DeSoto hills. The group chaperoned by Mrs. I. J. Montgomery and Miss Elsie Hughes, one of the Blair teachers, had gone to DeSoto and were picnicking near one of the big hills. The children have on occasion used the big iron culvert across the highway for a slide and they were doing so at this time.

Ruth, who had just gotten over a siege of mumps, was taking her turn when the end came. The cause of her death, according to reports, will never be known. It is thought by some that the late sickness had caused her heart to be in a weakened condition and that the shock of sliding down the steep incline of the culvert was too much for her, while others claim that she struck a beam while going through the culvert.

To the children and their elders in charge of them, the death was a shock that will never by forgotten. The body was picked up and examined by an Omaha physician who happened along just at that time, and the sad decision that life had departed was given. The body was immediately brought to Blair and the news brought to the parents.

Ruth was a member of the sixth grade in the Blair school and the second of the cast in a class play recently given to meet death in accidental manner, within a few days.

The school nurse had warned against her participation in the picnic and against violent exercise and had sent a note to her parents to that effect but it is thought that her anxiety to attend with her schoolmates caused her to not deliver the note which was found in her pocket after her death.

She was a general favorite among her schoolmates and a good student. She leaves three sisters and a brother besides the grief stricken parents to mourn her tragic death.

Funeral services were held last Sunday afternoon at 2:30 o’clock at the Congregational church with Rev. A. F. Newell officiating and interment was made in the Blair cemetery.

The heartfelt sympathy of the entire community goes out to the parents in their great bereavement.

CARD OF THANKS We extend our sincere thanks to the many friends who so kindly assisted us in our hour of bereavement, the death of our daughter and sister, Ruth. We especially thank those who sent such beautiful floral tokens and those who furnished the music and the minister for his kind words of encouragement and sympathy. - - - Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Krogh and family and grandmother