Headstones for Claud and Cleo Thorn stand in block 1, lot 98 of the Central Avenue Division of Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon, Bibb County, Georgia. Tragically, both girls drowned in a local creek just two weeks before the summer solstice of 1887. And these stones give no hint of the scandal that surrounded their deaths.
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| Both Claud Thorn, aged 19, and Cleo Thorn, aged 20, died on 7 June 1887. Image © 2013-2025 S. Lincecum. |
The deaths of these young women caused a "sensation in the city" because they were "inmates" of "Madame Belmont's establishment." And while the headstones suggest a shared family tragedy, the truth behind their arrival in Macon reveals a much more complex story. Two newspaper accounts from June 1887 tell what happened that day. (Minor note: contemporary newspapers spelled the girls' names variously as Claude/Claudie/Claud and Cleo/Clio; I've used the spellings from their headstones throughout.)
9 June 1887
TWO GIRLS DROWNED.The Tragic End of a Disreputable Party Near Macon.MACON, Ga., June 7. -- This evening about 1:30 o'clock a terrible tragedy occurred at Seven bridges, on Echeconee creek, seven miles south of Macon. This morning a party of girls from Madame Belmont's establishment, accompanied by several young men, went down there on a holiday. After they had enjoyed themselves for several hours Clio and Claude Thorn, two girls from Cincinnati, who have lately become inmates, decided to go in bathing. Two young men went in with them. After a short time one of the young men decided to come out, as he had cramps in his legs, and told them that he could not possibly stay longer. After a short time the two girls got beyond their depth and cried for help. The young man who was in with them, swam to their assistance and caught one around the body, and reached for the other, when both caught him in [a] deathly embrace, and all three sank two or three times. It was life and death with the young man, and disengaging himself he swam to the shore, when the two unfortunates went drifting down the cold current, uttering the most agonizing cries for help. The balance of the party, panic-stricken, assembled on the bank and watched them as the dark waters closed over them for the last time. One of the bodies was soon recovered by drag hooks in twenty-five feet of water. It was late in the evening when the other was recovered. Ten dollars reward was offered for her body before it was recovered.
The second article had no trouble naming names, but only the women were considered "disreputable characters."
Courant-American (Cartersville, Georgia)
9 June 1887
A DRUNKEN ORGIE.Macon correspondent of Savannah News of Tuesday says:The news of a sensational tragedy, the scene of which was the Seven Bridges, about four miles from the city on the Houston road, reached the city late this afternoon. This morning about eight o'clock a party of men and women, the latter being disreputable characters, drove in hacks to the place named above, which is the junction of Tobesofkee and Rocky creeks, for the purpose of picnicking and having a jolly time generally. The party was composed of Lee Lowenthal, Ben Meaks, Charlie McAllister, Henry Miller, all sporting characters, and Jennie Scott, Flaggie Meaks, Claude and Clio Thorne. A liberal supply of "John Barleycorn" was taken along, and about midday the party were pretty well "filled." In this intoxicated condition a bath in the creek was proposed and all joined in the movement. While thus engaged Claude and Clio Thorne, who were sisters, wandered into deep water, and soon began to flounder. They screamed lustily for help, but the men were either too drunk or too indifferent to go to the rescue, and the unfortunate women were both drowned. The bodies lay in the water until that afternoon, when some of their companions, hearing of the accident, went to the scene and recovered them. The drowned women came here from Cleveland, O., about six weeks ago. The affair produced quite a sensation in this city.
In the late 19th century, Macon did not have a single, isolated red-light district, but rather a series of "sporting" hubs clustered near the city's commercial and transportation centers. These establishments, often euphemistically listed in city directories as "female boarding houses," were concentrated along the Ocmulgee riverfront and near railroad depots, where a transient population of traders and travelers provided a steady stream of patrons. Gambling dens and brothels often operated on the upper floors of business buildings.
Madame Belmont's establishment, where Claud and Cleo resided, likely operated in this periphery—an area where the "sporting characters" of Macon's bachelor subculture mingled with "disreputable" women. This social landscape was defined by its proximity to the city's heartbeat—its cotton markets and rail lines—while remaining tucked away in the shadows of "polite" society.
Despite their "disreputable" status in the press, someone -- perhaps Madame Belmont herself, or even family back in Ohio -- paid for a proper burial and matching headstones for the two young women.
Days after the drownings, a third article emerged that traced Cleo's path to Macon -- but instead of providing closure, it only raised more questions.
11 June 1887
THEY WERE NOT SISTERS.But Were Wild, Wayward, Winsome -- History of the Two Ohio Girls Who Were Drowned While Bathing in Georgia.CLEVELAND, O., June 8. -- A telegram today announced that Cleo and Claudie Thorn, sisters, had drowned in Macon, Ga., last Tuesday while bathing. The girls were not sisters, although they passed as such. The former was born in Cleveland, while the other was reared in Akron. Cleo was but eighteen years old, while Claudie was a few years older. The life of Cleo has been a checkered one. Six months after Cleo's birth her father died, and for four years her widowed mother worked hard to support herself and orphan daughter.About this time the mother married a hard-working, intelligedt [sic] mechanic, and the family took up their residence on a side street in the East End. The family was poor, but Cleo was sent to school regularly. Two years ago her beautiful eyes and hair attracted the attention of a son of a wealthy neighbor. The young man's parents were friends of the girl's mother, and little was thought of the growing intimacy between the youthful pair.Shortly before Christmas, a year ago, Cleo suddenly disappeared from home. The poor mother wes [sic] almost distracted, and for months heard nothing of her wayward daughter. One day a letter was received from Cleo, in which the mother learned that her daughter was an actress, engaged with a troupe then playing in Jamestown, N.Y. From early youth Cleo had a passion for the stage, and her parents believed the story she had written. Last fall she returned home, but remained only a few days, when she again disappeared, and nothing was heard from her again until a year ago, when the mother received a letter saying that Cleo was penitent and had given up the desire to be an actress. She said that she would be home within a few days, never to leave again.The true history of the girl after she left home was unknown to the parents until to-day. When Cleo left home she went to Jamestown, N.Y., where she entered a house of ill-repute. Her beauty attracted the attention of the proprietress of a similar house in this city, and when Cleo expressed desire to return to Cleveland an offer was at once made her, which she agreed to. She became an inmate of an establishment on Bank street, where he youthful lover, who had been married in the meantime, frequently visited her.While on Bank street she became a warm friend of Claudie Morton, whose father is a merchant at Akron, and who had separated from her husband. Here, too, Cleo met a youth of nineteen named Theodore Keys. Keys fell in love with the girl, and showered money and jewels upon her. One day his father appeared and begged the girl to have nothing more to do with the youngster, which she consented to do, but he couldn't be shaken off. The girl was finally arrested by the father for being a woman of the town, and confined in the work-house fifteen days. After she was released she and Claudie Morton whent south, accompanied by Keys.
Despite a cursory search of census records, I've found no trace of Claud or Cleo before their arrival in Macon. Were their names real? Were their backstories true? The only certainties are the two headstones in Rose Hill Cemetery and the cold waters of Echeconnee Creek that claimed them on a June afternoon in 1887. This may be one of the most indelible 'tales of tombstones' my cemetery research has ever uncovered.
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