Ada, MI Picknicker Drowns in River, Sept 1922

Stanley Nurski's death casts a pall over holiday party near Ada----Body is recovered

Having recovered from serious burns caused by a boiler explosion which killed a worker near him, Stanley Nurski, 24, of 1012 Hovey St., SW, waded into Thornapple River two miles above Ada yesterday noon for his for his first swim in years. Reaching deep water, he sank and was drowned.

The drowning, the fourteenth this year, occurred while Nurski's wife Maggie, and about 60 Polish picknickers watched from the river bank where they had gone early in the morning for the holiday.

Shortly after lunch, Nurski and two other men donned bathing suits and went in the water. Nurski waded on a pebbled bottom for a time and then called to his wife, "It's too stony here. I'm going where it's deeper." A few minutes later, Nurski's companions failed to see him and called for aid.. Frank Bittenburg, Muskegon, and Rudolph Alberta, Clam fishermen, responded in their boats and began a search.

Body is recovered. Nurski's body had drifted to a bar six foot below the surface, and Bittenburg's hooks caught it. Nurski apparently had swallowed no water and indications were that organic trouble might have caused death. Coroner J. R. Hilliker and Deputy Sheriff Ralph Bolt investigated. The body was taken to the Derezinski morgue.

Two years ago, Nurski was badly burned and a young worker standing near him was so seriously hurt he died later, following a boiler explosion at the Peterson Brewing Company where both were employed. Nurski spent many weeks in Butterworth Hospital but was finally able to resume work, and recently had been employed by the Luce Furniture Company.
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Judd Cadwell