Biographies: Douglas Spedden's Tragic Death (1915)


Figure 1.-- This portrait of Douglas appears to have been taken about December 1914, a few months before his death. He may be holding the same football he chased across the road. Notice his flkat cap and the velvet trim on his coat collar. Copyright: Leighton H. Coleman III all rights reserved, www. polarthetitanicbear.com"

Unfortunately Douglas life was so short. One photograph is the saddest of all. It shows Douglas in his bedroom. He has his teddy bear on the table. He was 9 years old when this photograph was taken. He is wearing a white shirt and it looks as if it is summer. If this were so then the family would have been staying at Bar Harbour. This brings the date close to early August and a few days after this photograph was taken Robert Douglas Spedden was run over by a car and died two days after the accident on August 6, 1915. It was only 2 years after their narrow escape from the Titanic, Douglas while playing football chased after his ball which had gone onto the highway. He did not look as he dashed out into the road. A portrait of Douglas wearing knickers with a football was taken at about the time that he was killed. The portrait was taken at about Christmas as there is a small Chrstmas tree in the photograph. Douglas was hit by a car and killed. He was the first road casualty in Maine! How very sad for a family that survived the Titanic disaster. The family never recovered from his death.

Sources

Spedden, Daisy Corning Stone. Polar: the Titanic Bear. (Little, Brown and Company, 1994) ISBN70316806250.







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Created: June 19, 2003
Last updated: June 19, 2003