Monday, October 29, 2012

Anyone Else Notice that Right Answer to Today's Ancestry Death Records Contest was Incorrect?

I just went to the Ancestry Death Records Contest ( www.ancestry.com/deathcontest) to try to win an iPad... (note that this particular contest ends on Tuesday, 30 October).  Here is the question to be answered:

"It’s the 6th of February, 1925 and there’s a drama unfolding on the pages of the Charleston Daily Mail. William Floyd Collins is trapped in Sand Cave, near Cave City, Kentucky. He’s been there since January 30th.

"The country has been riveted by the daily reports on the story–and today is an especially poignant time in the continuing saga. This was supposed to be William’s wedding day. But instead, his betrothed, Alma Clark, waits at the mouth of the cave for news of his rescue.
"How does this story end?
  1. He dies from exposure on the 17th of February.
  2. He is rescued on the 7th of February and married that afternoon.
  3. He dies exactly one year later in a car accident.
  4. He is rescued on the 10th of February, but his fiancée refuses to marry him."
In my humble opinion, none of the four answers is correct, although one has the correct answer but is off by one day!  I checked that one, since there was no answer choice for "None of the above!"

Did anyone else note this?  I'll update this post on Tuesday with the correct answer (IMHO) along with the evidence.

UPDATED Wednesday, 31 October:  The record that contains the answers to this contest is:


The newspaper page is dated 16 February 1925, and the article clearly states that William Floyd Collins was found dead on 16 February 1925, not died on 17 February 1925 as the closest correct answer to the contest question indicates.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/10/anyone-else-notice-that-right-answer-to.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

4 comments:

Amy said...

I didn't find any articles that gave one of these choices. I picked my answer using the process of elimination. I knew 3 of the choices definitely weren't correct, so I picked the one I felt was the least wrong!

Cheri Hudson Passey said...

I agree with you. None are technically correct.

Sharon said...

Yes, I noticed that too. But I knew which one Ancestry thought was correct, so that's the one I picked.

Julie said...

Agreed. And apparently his body wasn't recovered until April. See: http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=7752&path=1925.4.23

It's the 2nd article in the 2nd to last column.