The Hanson Children

Tiny ripples flow as the water of Sand Pond in Warwick, RI gently laps against the shore. As you make your way down the steep dirt path, there are haunting echoes of children at play. Suddenly, it’s apparent where the giggling and shouts are coming from. 

Five boys on bicycles whiz by the “slow children” sign posted at the side of Sand Pond Road. They speed into the woods and emerge on the other side of the pond. Nearby, at a small sandy beach, three other children in swimsuits splash in the water. 

Little do they know that almost 100 years ago, four children not so unlike themselves, died tragically in this very same pond. 

On February 17, 1909, five children who attended the Norwood Grammar School in Warwick decided to go ice-skating. It was a wintry Wednesday afternoon, and Ranghilda Svea Dagmark Hanson, 14, Hanna Lilly Constance Hanson, 12, and their brother Lars Axel William Hanson, 11, ran to the pond at the end of the school day, as was their habit. Their friend Gilbert Johnson, 15, was with them. The four children skated for a half hour or so, frolicking around the ice. 

After a bit, another friend, Bessie Thornton, 10, joined in the fun, and the five held hands to skate in unison. But after skating just two hundred feet, Bessie spotted a white patch. Gilbert and the Hanson children, laughing and enjoying the carefree days of childhood, did not notice the dangerous patch, and let Bessie break off from their chain without a second thought.

Seconds later, the children fell through the ice, just as dusk was setting in, and began a fight for their lives in the frigid water. 

Until that day there had been no drownings at Sand Pond. But the dangerous body of water was known for its spring holes that do not freeze, even with the recent cold snap that had turned Norwood village into a snowy playground.

“Somebody, please! Help us! Help!” they frantically cried. 

As the children thrashed about in the water, Gilbert’s cousin, Albert Sweet, and classmate Harrison Cruise heard their cries for help from the other side of the pond, where they were skating. 

Albert threw off his heavy winter coat, and flung one end into the water, in hopes of pulling someone to safety. The only safety he affected, however, was his own. He too was dragged into the water, and one of the Hanson girls clung to him in desperation. Before long, Albert found himself pushed under the surface. 

Harrison, horrified by the rapidly passing events, grabbed a ladder that lay on the ground nearby, but he couldn’t reach his friends. Other children joined in the rescue effort with poles, and even a rope, but to no avail. 

By this time Gilbert’s father, Gilbert Johnson Sr., had been notified of what was unfolding and rushed to the scene. Johnson worked for the Providence Ice Company, and lived close by. With another parent, he carried a boat out over the ice to where it had given way, hoping to rescue the children. . 

But they were too late.

Gilbert, Lilly, Axel, and Ranghilda, all overcome with hypothermia, were unable to hold onto the ice. One by one, they slipped away, and sank to the bottom of the pond, where they drowned. 

The only one to survive was Albert.

By nightfall, over 50 Norwood residents had gathered at Sand Pond with lanterns. They made a bonfire, and stood vigil as rescuers dragged the pond for bodies. Gilbert and Lilly were found at 8:40 p.m., and villagers found Axel 20 minutes later. At 9:30 p.m., Ranghilda’s body was recovered. All four had sunken 30 feet to the pond’s floor. 

In silence, a handful of volunteers brought the four small bodies to the shore, and covered them with blankets. The medical examiner, C.S. Christie, would perform an autopsy on each the following day. 

The three Hanson children were buried in Grace Church Cemetery. They left behind their grief-stricken parents, Axel Wilhelm Hanson, a wireman for the Rhode Island Company, and his wife Hanna C. Hanson, with only one child. 

Harry C. Hanson, who was 10 years old when his brother and sisters died, lived to become a jeweler and stone setter in Providence. He lived with his parents at 654 Cranston Street until after he became an adult. At that point, his parents left Providence for an unknown destination. 

What became of Gilbert Johnson’s family after the boy’s death is unknown. A month before Gilbert drowned, his younger sister had died, according to the article the Providence Journal published about the accident. 

The loss of four children in the ice-skating accident left an entire community mourning. A school dance was canceled. Bessie Thornton, the girl who, due to a split second decision, escaped falling through the ice, stayed home for days after her friends’ deaths, traumatized. 

Even though the children who drowned in 1909 are long dead, Sand Pond is still very much alive. Small white houses with vegetable gardens surround the pond. Homeowners decorate their yards with plastic swans. An old worn out tire floats near the bank, and rowboats and dinghies are piled on boat ramps. Many people still come to the pond to fish, but there is no lifeguard on duty at the pond. People who skate or swim there do so at their own risk.