This Day in Jekyll History, February 24, 1917
On This Day in Jekyll History…February 24, 1917, Edwin Gould, Jr. dies tragically while at Jekyll Island.
One of the great tragedies of the Jekyll Island Club era took place on a nearby marsh hammock. Kate Brown, tutor to the Macy children recorded it in her diary as such:
“There was a dreadful accident here last evening which makes us feel sad today. Eddy Gould, the one young man in (his) twenties in the Island and son of the Mr. Gould who brought us down here, went out last night to visit his coon traps. He had set them on a lovely island, separated from Jekyll by a mile or more of water and marsh, and the only person who went with him was a young man who is tutoring the Dowes children. It was a very dark night and Eddy Gould bent over a trap which was sprung to see what it had caught. In bending he knocked against his gun which he had carelessly left cocked and it went off, shooting him through the stomach and killing him. The tutor had to leave him there and struggle back to land. He was entirely unfamiliar with the swamp and overturned twice in his canoe and waded waist deep before he got back. It was hours before help could get there.”
The Goulds, who had been a very active part of the Jekyll Island Club rarely returned to the island after that day. Their home Chichota, falling into disrepair, was eventually demolished by the Club in 1940, leaving only the foundations and two stone lions standing guard in silent tribute.
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