FARMINGTON TIMES, Farmington, St. Francois County, Missouri, Friday, July 7, 1905 A FATAL DIVE ________ Jakob Lopez of Ironton Dives Into Shut-in Creek, Strikes Rock and Is Instantly Killed ________ Jacob Lopez, a promiment young business man of Ironton and well known here, met with sudden death at Shut-in, about three miles from Ironton, last Sunday, July 2nd. He had gone to the Shut-in with a party of friends from St. Louis, including Mr. and Mrs. Robert Burns, to spend the day. While there the gentlemen in the crowd donned bathing suits and indulged in a swim. The body of water in which they were bathing has a rock bottom, and Mr. Lopez, from a slight elevation, plunged into it head first. There had been a very heavy rain the night before, and it is supposed that a loose rock had been washed into the pool. As Mr. Lopez plunged into the water his head struck a hidden rock and he sank out of sight. The other two men did not notice him as he dove into the water, and the first alarm was given by the women in the party when he failed to appear on the surface after the plunge. They screamed and their husbands hurried to the scene to find that the body had been carried down stream by the swiftly-running water. They made a hurried search, but could not find him. The news of the accident was carried to Ironton as quickly as possible. A large number of citizens started immediately for the scene and arrived there at 12:30. At first they carefully searched the pool in which Lopez had been swimming, but the body could not be found. After diving and dragging the stream for about an hour the body was located where it had lodged almost 250 yards down stream. An examination of the remains revealed a deep hole in the top of the head, which, it is supposed, was caused by the corner of a rock. This alone would probably have been sufficient to cause death. The body of water in which the drowning occurred, which is located in what is known as the Shut-In, is in Stout's creek, and is frequently visited by outing parties. It is surrounded by some of the most rugged picturesque scenery in the Ozark mountains. Jacob Lopez was a brother of George Lopez, who formerly had charge of the Lopez store in Farmington and who died several years ago. He was born in Ironton and has lived there the greater part of his life, though he and his brothers have conducted general merchandise stores in several Southeast towns. His parents are dead, and only one of his brothers, Adolph, is left.