The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-06-30
QUADRUPLE TRAGEDY.

QUADRUPLE TRAGEDY.
FOUR YOUNG MEN ARE DROWNED WHILE
BATHING-THE TRAGIC SCENE.
The Cincinnati Commercial OF the DIST
says: about 10 O'clock on Friday night,
party of young men were bathing in the
Ohio river, at the foot of Carr street. Eph-
rain Caruthers, aged twenty-four years, a
driver of the Singer Sewing Machine Conn
pany, and Louis Schiller, aged nineteen,
employed at Morgan's bOok-bindery, in the
Enquirer building, were among the bathers
Schiller was novice in the art of swim
ming, and Caruthers was by no means an
expert. The water was only about six feet
in depth, and while young Schiller was
splashing along in his attempts 20 swim, it is
supposed he was taken with cramps and
commenced sinking His cries attracted
the attention of his comrades. and Caruth-
ers at once made an attempt to rescue him.
When within reach, the drowning man
caught Caruthers in his arms and in few
moments both sank TO the bottom. The
remainder OF the party witnessed the
tragic scene, but were pOwerless to render
assistance before it was too late. At first
it was thought Caruthers would be able to
bring his friend safely To the shore, but after
he was disabled by the terrible dying grasp
of Schiller, the others were unable
A
was at once commenced for the bodies. The
river was dragged until O'Clock Yesterday
morning without success; when the search
was temporarily abandoned. About $50
O'Clock yesterday morning John Smith,
Thomas Hattersley and William Sites again
repaired to the river, and with nets and
hooks,
RESUMED THE SEARCH.
Two hours later, while diving along the
bottom of the river, Mr.. Hattersley saw the
bodies short distance from him, and soon
succeeded in bringing them to the shore,
They were firmly bound together-entWined
in each others arms as if wrestling-locked
in the cold embrace of death. A singular
circumstance in connection with the sad
affair is the fact that the unfortunate young
men were inseparably fast friends in life.
and ended their career so closely united
Both we're members of the Third Pres
byterian church, and after service
Friday evening left the church TO
90 to the river. Schiller lived with
his widowed mother, brother and four
sisters at 100 Webb street, and Carui hers
lived at 90 Clinton street. Both men were
highly esteemed in the circles in which they
moved for their many Christian virtues, and
their loss will be dePlored by numerous
friends and relatives. The coroner held an
inquest, the Jury rendering verdict in ac-
cordance with the foregoing facts.
The Cincinnati Enquirer OF the 22nd inst,
gives the following account of the drowning
of two more young men: Yesterday after
noon while DIR. Taylor was preaching tie
funeral sermon over the two young men who
had been drowned on Friday night, a dnpli-
cate of that disaster was happening in
about the same part of the river. At three
o'clock number of young men, all
them German reached the mouth of Milf
ha1n na0o wi rf cd
to take a swim. They had already been
warned by the policemen of that district
that they would have to go further down be-
fore swimming, but they watched their OPP
portunity to neglect this order and went in
accordingly where they thought the prospect
most pleasing. The whole company, in
number five or six, went in together, and
keeping near the shore, passed more than an
hour in the water safely, as they had been
careful not to impose on their want OF skill
by going beyond their depth. They were
about ready to leave the water when one of
the party, Ben zimmerman, twenty-three
years of age, ventured out beyond the safety
mark, and tried the feat Of
SWIMMING ON HIS BACK.
When he attempted to stand on bottom he
found there was none within reaching dis
lance; he had struck one ofthose fatal step-offs
common to the river in that locality, where
the waters of MlllcIeek meeting those of
the Ohio have made great irregularities in
the bottom of the stream. zimmerman was
no swimmer at all, and no sooner realized
his danger than he struggled violently and
called for help. The only man to respond
was a friend of his named Frank Kuhlmeier,
of about the same age and of about the same
experience as a swimmer. He started out
bravely and unselfishly enough, but was
not the man for the position. Before he
reached his friend zimmerman was taken
with cramps, and sank as If he had been so
much lead and there was Kuhlmeier in
about twenty feet of water, entirely
the sight of his friend sinking to
death, 10 steal away all the nerve he may
have had. The result was, as might have
been expected, double disaster. Kuhl-
meier struggled bravely for a few minutes,
and sank only a few feet from his friend.
The report of this misfortune spread rapidly
through the neighborhood. and crowds of
curious men and women were soon gathered
to the banks of the river, and the search for
the bodies began. Three young men, Laucer,
Leppert and Robinson, dived for the bodies
without success, and it was several hours be-
fore Thomas Hattersley, the sailor, who
found the bodies of Schiller and Csruthers,
succeeded in bringing Kuhlmeier's body to
the surface. After continuing the search for
the other young man until nearly 10 O'CLOCK
it was abandoned till the morning, and the
BODY of Kulmeier was taken in a coffin 10
Habig's, and the coroner's jury returned a
verdict in accordance with the facts.
A man named Henry Rich Tyson was
lately found wandering around the New
York depot in Philadelphia, and acting
strangely he was taken into custody. His
valise contained $1,000 in specie and he said
1,ax w a M Mt in