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6 Teens Died As a Result of a Boy Showing Off His Award Winning Dance Moves

In the 1920s, a young man showing his friends how he won a dance competition turned deadly

Andrew Martin
3 min readFeb 5, 2025

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Teenagers often make mistakes as they figure out who they are and what it’s like to get older, but they are often overcome and serve as lessons. Therefore, when an accidental tragedy strikes, it makes it all the worse to see young people cut down coming into their own. A century ago, a group of friends were enjoying each other’s company together when one started to show off the dance moves that had recently won him a competition. Within minutes, he and five others were dead.

The horrible deaths took place in 1926 in Salt Ste., Michigan. 16-year-old Arthur Tessier and six of his best friends decided to take a rowboat out on the St. Mary’s River to enjoy a pleasant June day. He had recently won a junior Charleston dance competition and was eager to show off his winning moves to his pals. There were few things hotter in the country at the time than the Charleston, which encouraged fast paced movement to hopping music.

When one of Tessier’s friends encouraged him to show everyone how he’d won, he didn’t let the fact that the group was in a boat stop him. As his friends sang, clapped and stamped their feet to the beat, he…

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Andrew Martin
Andrew Martin

Written by Andrew Martin

Dabbler in soccer, history, investing & writing. Master’s degree in baseball history. Passionate about history, diversity, culture, sports, film and investing .

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