From the Manitoba Daily Free Press
Winnipeg, Manitoba
20 June, 1884

DROWNED,
the Death of Thomas Gilliland, of
Portage la Prairie.

   The Portage Liberal gives the following particulars of the drowning of Thomas Gilliland, which has already been announced by telegraph in the Free Press -- Four young men went up to the Old Fort on the Assiniboine last Sunday afternoon to bathe. Thomas Gilliland, brother to R. J. Gilliland, merchant of this place being one of the number. On their reaching the bank he was the first to undress and enter the water. He at once passed out into the current and went down almost immediately. His companions were some distance from him and though they saw him making some rapid movements with his hands they had no thought that he was drowning until he went under. It appears that just where he entered the current there is a small whirlpool caused by the meeting of two opposite currents. The river just there is some feet deeper than at other places, owing to this action of the water. A sandbar and some fallen timber causes this current to turn. The water was very rough, owing to the prevailing high wind, and as it was also quite muddy, nothing could be done to rescue him.  The river was dragged and the body found the following day in about nine feet of water, and about the same place where he was last seen. He was buried on Tuesday, his funeral being largely attended. The deceased was eighteen years of age and highly esteemed by those who knew him.

-- transcription by Kate Maynard, 2010