The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-06-10 00:00:00

AN ACP OF HEROISW.

On Friday afternoon, in last week. as the Heron, Wool.
wit% steamer had just emerged from under London-
bridge from the upper aide, a middle aged gentleman,
who was sitting on the rail smoking a cigar suddenly fell
overboard, and was seen struggling in the water, his
head frequently being under. The steamer was stopped
and a lifiabuoy thrown over; hut be evidently was too
exhausted to reach it. At this motto nt a powiriul.
locking young man on Lund, n-britize divested himself
of his shoes, sad, without taking off his " witie-awake,"
mounted the parapet and dived to the great depth
below, and oi, soon rng to the surface, swam to the
minute of the drowning man, whom he held by tie
collar of his coat until boats put If to then assistance.
I he daring rapidity of this voluntary act of heroism
was greeted with immense cheering, and when they
were conveyed to the "Swan Hotel," at the foot of the
bridge, an immense mob followed. The police thin
ascertained that the gentleman who fell overboard was
a Mr. Peters, redding at the West-end, who was going
to Woolwich on business, and the young man who so
Promptly dived was J. 13. Johnson, of the Wellington
Baths, Leeds, who had come or, to town tic, nt-nd in
the champion swimming match at Hendon, and hap.
petted to be palming over the bridge at the time. F..r.
Innately, the tide was just on the turn from high
water. orJohnson's head, diving from so great a height,
must have come in contact with the ground. Every
attention was paid to them by the landlord, and sub.
requently both were 000veyed is. cabs to their respec-
tive destinations.

Referring to the foregoing—an act of 1110, real heroism
than many of those recouidcd on the hattieecia, end ar Lb
have race rod mat Son. gratitude—the Doily Tesgrsph, to
a leader elves the hero this welLearteed eu:ogturo :
Hail to thee, Johneon !—J. B. Johnson, of York•
shire— health and 1. ng life an I lemma. to .I.
Johnson! The times were sadly in need of a hero;
and just when General Trochn woes lying that E *Bah
litry and Italian corruption had demoraliaed France,
B. Johnson, of Leeds, turns up to prove that we
have the old breed of Englishmen among us still. Once
again the f emiliar patronymic is rendered so illustrious
that if anybody bears the name of Johnson—" Jack
Jthoson "—he ought not to exchange it for any other.
It RPM made learned by the old lexicographer; Byron
had already tmetieed it; but last Friday it wax coupled
with a deed of humanity, skill, and courage, which, after
the evil events of the week abroad, and all the
crimes and sins on our own daily records, shines
like a bright beam of sunlight in a dark sky.
Let the Mille, who so eeldom gets a veritable hero
to talk ahout, recount the circumstances of this
story with historic order and earnestness. Oa
Friday afternoon last, then, as the Greenwich boat
shot the side arch of London-bridge on her way
down the river, a London citizen, by name Peters,
WWI imprudently aittie g upon the Pp neon rail.
Whether the ersip.l lurched or struck anythlng is not
related, but the hapless passenger slipped from the rail
and fell over into the water. Then had Peters perished
for aught that could be done for him by the men on
board the vessel or by any one on the shore ; since he
knew nothing about swimming and the boat had gone
far ahead before she °meld be stopped. A lifebuoy
was, indeed, flung to the drowning Londoner; but,
being under water and serugglirg wildly, he could
not even see it, and even if his eyes and mouth had
not been filled as they were with the muddy waves
of the Thames, he would not have known how in
the world to get at it. To the crowds of excited
people watching this piteous scene from the parapet of
the bridge it seemed too plain that the poor creature
warn lost, for there was nothing of him above the sur-
face but his hinds, feebly beating. At that thrilling
moment, when wotnen were tainting or Fomenting, and
men getting white in the face—for death which might
be averted anti in not averted seems always dreadful—
there was our Yorkshire hero all the while at band,
brought up to town by Hendon Races and decree of
Providence, aud by the same decree led just at that
juncture to the right spot for poor Peters. Our hero
had arrived from Leeds that very morning to swim a
match on the next day at the "Welsh Harp" for the
Champion's Cup. Looking over the bridge along with
the other passers-by, he saw the floundering citizen,
and, being amphibious by education, he comprehended
in an instant that there were about twenty seconds
to spare if life in this CRSO were to be saved.
A gulp or two more, and that family man of ap-
parent respectability will be gone. But the bridge
is awfully high; such a jump has been known to kill
even a good swimmer, and perhaps there are good
swimmers among the white-faced shouting crowd. But
Iwhat can be done? Johnson—J. B. Johnson, of Leeds
I —takes in at a glance what can he done. loan instant
be decides to go in for this other and very sudden
swimming match, where the prize is life, and the stake
the same. Hold up, Mr. Petere, one moment more!
Johnson meows to tee balustrade—Johnson kicks off
his shoes—Johnson jumps, and the women leave off
screaming, and the men about the place break out into
I a roar of pure irrepreseible human joy. and sympathy,
and admiration, such as a grand deed must ever excite.
IThe shout ix caught up along the quays and from the
decks and spare of the shipping, and all up and down
the river wherever a sight can be caught of the gallant
fellow going through the air like an angel in a shoot big
coat and wideawake, sod plunging into the Thames
amid a perfect fountain of white water spouting up
when he hits the river.

Keep up, Mr. Peters, now for the other half mo-
ment! What a jump!—forty feet, we take it, if an
Inch, and not on • nice hot quiet day, mark you, when
even the muddy Thames appears more or lees inviting
to a perspiring swinnm-r. It was an afternoon that we
shall not calumniate in the least degree by calling
"beastly :" a bitter wind warn blowiug and evervthing
was an chill, wretched, and minspiring as an English
June day can sometimes make our city. Neither
for wind nor weather, h mever, nor yet for coat or
clothes cared J. B. Johnson; but when the tremendous
splash subsided, there was an awful breath-pause
all round. He might stick in the mud, you see, at the
bottom; he might be stunned by the teirilic smack
upon the water. Hemight- but no! by all that is good
and gallant, there nops up his manly head—up lie
comes like a cork. One sputter just to get his eyes
c'ear of the thick Thames water, and one brief suck i
of the necessary air, and then he makes through the
tide at the sinking man, catching him net in time.
Whereupon Peters is safe. Providence and Johnson
have settled that—fur give our amphibious angel
but a fair grip of his man, and he can hold him
up for any time you please. He kindly kirkt his man
out straight indeed, so as to float him more conveniently.
And now the exhaustion of the rescued Peters is
fortunate. It is better that that respectable citiz.in
should think himself already gone, and faintly wobble
and feebly guggle, for the boats are coming, and in
very little time they jyck up both after which •
judicious course of flannels and brandy and water, and
a dry suit of clothes for the hero, which fifty people are
sager to lend him, set the whole badness right...

THE SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIP.
On Saturday the swimming championship was con.
tested at the "Welsh Harp," Hendon. The prooeedinge
obtained a considerable increase of interest from the