William Cook and Rose Cook

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William cook
1878-1897
Rose Cook
1883-1897
B39   


    William and Rose Cook were orphans who lived with their aunt in Tonawanda. Just before Christmas in 1897 they were part of a small skating party on Ellicott Creek: two brothers and two sisters enjoying the winter ice. They were skating behind the Rose Ice Company where the ice had been cut leaving it weakened. The ice broke without warning.
  William tried to rescue his sister, but was unsuccessful and the pair went under. Michael Coleman managed to hold his sister above the surface long enough for neighbors to hear her screams and pull her to safety. He then slipped beneath the ice and drowned.
    William Cook never let go. Witnesses later said that when the bodies were recovered, William and Rose were found locked tightly in each other’s arms, carried together by the current beneath the ice. The newspapers said: "They were so tightly locked in each others arms when found it was almost impossible to separate them from death's grasps."
    Their watches stopped at 7:40 that night - the time of their death. 

Ice skating on Sawyers Creek



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