A Monument of Beauty and a Warning
Many of the citizens of Auburn and Cayuga County are familiar with the large granite boulder surrounded by a wrought iron fence that sits at the north end of Owasco Lake, in a corner of Emerson Park. Many people have taken the time to stroll by the monument and read the inscription on the carefully inset large bronze tablet. But few actually know the whole story of why and how the memorial found its place there almost 100 years ago.
July 1911 was hot and sunny, and Auburn was in the midst of a heat wave. Edward (Ned) Burke had arrived in Auburn a week before. During this trip to Auburn, Ned stayed with his cousin, Ms. Adelaide McCarthy, and her family. On the tragic day of Tuesday, July 11, 1911, many people went to the lake to swim and spend their day at the water. Mr. Burke and Ms. McCarthy had packed a picnic lunch and set out for Lakeside Park to go canoeing. Adelaide wore a long dress and large hat, as was custom for the times. She did not know how to swim, but she felt safe accompanied by the young sailor. The couple rented a canoe at Lakeside Park and paddled leisurely away from shore. While they were on the lake, they passed several of Adelaide’s classmates, one of whom took their photograph.
Suddenly, around 4:30 p.m., the skies darkened and a huge storm broke out. The waves soon threw the couple from their canoe and into the water. Several people on the east side of the lake, near Martin’s Point, saw the pair struggling in the water. Four young men at the channel of Sucker Brook (Duncan Brown, William McManus, William and G. Earle Henry, a cub reporter for The Auburn Daily Advertiser) recognizing the peril, ran and uncovered a 17-foot launch and attempted to make their way to the struggling couple. The waves were very high and soon filled the launch. Duncan Brown dove overboard to relieve the weight on the craft. When the would-be rescuers got about halfway to the pair, Ms. McCarthy went under and Ned dove in after her. He came back up to cling onto the canoe while holding on to Ms. McCarthy, limp in his arm. As they neared the overturned canoe, G. Earle recalled, “We got so close he called to us and said he had a girl on his arm.”
The rescue craft came within 15 feet of the canoe when a large wave flooded the boat and the motor. William laid on the deck of the boat and tried to throw a line to Ned, but the line missed completely. Ned let go of the canoe and tried for the rescue line, Adelaide still secured in his left arm. Now treading water, Ned tried again for the line as a huge wave swept over him. As they threw the line back to Ned he called to them, “Save the girl, don’t mind me” just as Ms. McCarthy slipped out from his grip. He went down one last time to try to retrieve her, but he never came back up. For the trio of rescuers, it was a chore to even save themselves as the waves and the wind continued to beat on their disabled craft. “We did all we could do. I couldn’t have done more if had been my own mother,” lamented one of the boys.
The news that the pair of cousins died in Owasco Lake spread rapidly and shocked everyone in Auburn. Ms. McCarthy, 18, a popular girl and recent graduate from the Auburn High School class of 1911, was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Florence McCarthy of 17 Howard St. Her aunt was the mayor’s wife. Ned, a navy nurse, was a recent graduate of the U.S. Naval Training Station in San Francisco and was planning on settling in Auburn and working at the Auburn Hospital. He was an orphan with only a half-brother and an uncle to mourn his loss.
The search for their bodies began immediately. Teams of rescuers trolled the waters off Martin’s Point until it was too dark to see. At sunrise, Mr. McCarthy and several others were out patrolling the murky waters 100 yards off shore. At 3:15 p.m., July 12, Thomas O’Neil Jr. (the mayor’s son and Adelaide’s cousin) recovered Adelaide’s body using a grapple under the boat. The search for Edward’s body continued for two more days. Ned’s body was found at 9 a.m. Friday, July 14, by Matt Wall and James Perkins, about 150 feet from where Adelaide was found. Ned’s watch had stopped at 4:48 p.m. He also had a signet ring from his graduation from the Navy.
History of the Burke Memorial
While the search continued for the would-be hero, Dr. Frederick Sefton of 107 South St. (“The Pines”), penned the epitaph that would eventually be placed in bronze. The local and well-known consulting neurologist at Auburn Hospital was moved by the personal account by G. Earle Henry of the rescue attempt. Dr Sefton memorialized the “brave deed” in the poem that was seen in the Thursday, July 14 edition of The Citizen.
“One of the largest gathering of mourners in the history of the City” attended the double funeral that was held the next day, Saturday, July 15. The funeral cortege of 20 carriages moved from the McCarthy home at 9 a.m. to St. Aloysius’s Church in lower Van Anden Street. The party was met by a delegation of girls in white dresses and boys in somber attire, students from the Auburn High School Class of 1911. At St. Aloysius’s Church, the requiem Mass was said by the Rev. McGrath. Flowers at the funeral included a massive bunch of roses presented by the graduating class of 1911. The party then moved to St. Joseph’s Cemetery. Thousands of people lined the streets to watch the procession. The cousins were buried in matching twin caskets made of oak, next to each other in the McCarthy family plot (section 7, lot 2). Eugene McCarthy, Adelaide’s brother, was at the same San Francisco U.S. Navy training station that Ned had attended. He was suffering from appendicitis, and could not make it home for his sister’s funeral.This much of the Burke story has been recently retold. But who put the memorial there? When and why? A $100 reward had been offered by the Auburn Water Board for the recovery of Ned Burke’s body. The Knights of Columbus had organized teams to search for the lost sailor, hoping to use the reward for a monument to his bravery. Soon after the funeral, a Burke Memorial Fund was created with an inaugural contribution by Mrs. C.D. MacDougall of $25. Donations spontaneously flowed in and could be made through the advertising desk of the local newspaper (The Auburn Semi-Weekly Journal). Ralph R. Keeler served as the fund’s treasurer. Lakeside Park was chosen as a site for the memorial, as it was located on public property, where many would see the memorial. It was also within sight of where the two lost their lives. A subcommittee of the Burke Memorial Fund was created to choose a boulder for the monument. The committee had reviewed 14 different boulders within eight miles of the city, in addition to boulders in Cortland, Fair Haven and Ira. A large granite boulder weighing between 11-12 tons was located on the Malley Farm in Aurelius on Clark Street Road on May 18, 1912. This was chosen the best one, as it could be most easily moved with the least expense. Mr. Malley donated the boulder, with the only expense being moving the boulder to Lakeside Park. On Thursday, June 27, 1912, the boulder was moved from Malley Farm to the foot of the lake by workers from the Auburn Draying Co. A team of eight horses had to negotiate two bridges at Aurelius Avenue and the Genesee Street bridge over the Owasco River. The moving of the boulder attracted much attention. Mr. William Gilboy was given the contract to set the boulder in a concrete foundation and furnish the bronze tablet to place in the boulder. (An identical bronze tablet is found at Burke’s gravesite in St. Joseph’s Cemetery.) At a meeting of the Burke Memorial Fund on Thursday Aug. 29, 1912, the committee set the date of for the Burke Memorial dedication.
On Sunday, Sept. 8, the stone monument and bronze tablet were dedicated at Lakeside Park at 3 p.m. More than 2,000 people were in attendance. John Donahue, the Grand Knight of the Knights of Columbus, was chairman for the day. Judge Mosher of Auburn, Judge John Hogan from Syracuse, and Mr. William Hughes from the class of 1911 all gave speeches. The Rev. Arnold Yantis, the pastor of the Universalist church, gave the final benediction at the dedication ceremony. Miss Alice O’Neill, the mayor’s daughter and Adelaide’s cousin, unveiled the monument we see today: a large granite boulder with an inset bronze tablet which reads,
In Memoriam
Edward George Burke, Late U.S. Navy
CL. No 874 K. of C.
Drowned in Owasco Lake,
Eleventh Day July, Nineteen Hundred Eleven
Striving to Save the Life of
Mary Adelaide McCarthy
A Stranger’s Tribute
I knew you not, I know your name, Ned Burke.
’Tis the misty isle with th’ emerald crest
that suckles your race at her teeming breast,
that spurns the craven, that adores the mild,
the gentle, the tender to woman and child
White was the soul of you, Ned Burke.
The winds were high and the waters were black,
’twas do or die, with the maid at your back,
with ne’er a quiver or halt at the test
you gave your all, you gave your best,
F.S.
This monument was erected by public subscription
to commemorate a brave deed.
To quote Mrs. M.L. Field of Thornton Avenue: “Dear Sir - Please allow me to make the suggestion concerning the worthy Edward Burke Memorial fund, that a suitable statue or monument be placed on some desirable plot in Lakeside Park; it might serve a double purpose as a monument of beauty and as a warning.” — July 19, 1911
Published in The Citizen July 3, 2011
