Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1883-07-07
18th OF JULY CASUALTY
FATHER AND SON DROWNED
While Bathing i'm the Canal
"Near Potomac IsIe.-

udSs Uppuelte 1oIOnac lSie, Was
the sad news that began to circu-
late through town on the evening of
the 4th inst, and which sent a
thrill of horror over the community
such as had not been felt for years.
With hearts light in anticipation of
a quiet and pleasant day on "Poto-
mac Isle," Mr.. Smurr and Harry, a
lad of some seventeen or eighteen
years, left home about 7 o'clock on
the morning of the Fourth. but as if
to show the futility of human hopes
and plans, and before the sun had
hardly passed the meridian, their
spirits had flown to the God that
gave them, and their bodies had
found a watery grave.
THE PARTICULARS
OF the sad affair can only be told by
the six boys who witnessed the tragic
scene, and are about as follows
They had concluded to go bathing,
and Mr. Smurr proposed with Har-
~ to accompany them, and secur'
iEg boat they all got in and cross,
ed the river to the canal. Land.
ing the party proceeded down the
path a short distance, and dis
robing were soon in the water. mr..
Smurr remarked TO the boys that he
had not been in the water before for
twenty years and that he wanted to
teach Harry to swim. He appeared
perfectly confident, was good
swimmer and had crossed the canal
several times when he approached
Harry and invited him in. The boy
knowing the depth of the water was
shy and hesitated, but yielding to
the solicitations of his father, and
with confidence in his ability to
protect him, cautiously entered, up
held by hands that were always kind
and gentle with him. Together they
had gotten about midway when the
boys noticed them STRUGGLING
drowning. Two or three of them
went to the rescue and attempted to
save them, but accomplished moth
ing. Overcome with excitement
and self-possession gone, they ran
from the canal to point opposite
the Island where they could be easily
heard and gave the alarm
OMAN DROWNING !"
Your reporter had just sat down
to dinner at the dining pavilion
when the above narrowing cry was
heard coming from a naked boy
directly opposite. There was no
way of crossing at once but by the
boat the bathers had used. The boy
was directed TO bring the boat over,
which was done as quickly as his
inexperience in handling it would
permit. In a few minutes expert
enced men were at work to recover
the bodies, but without success until
a canal boat on its way up approach
ed and furnished hooks and rope
from which drag was improvised.
By this time an hour or more had
passed. The first attempt with the
drag brought to the surface the body
of Mr.. Smurr, and the second that
of Harry, limp and lifeless, both
from the same spot and but a few
feet from where they were last seen
to go under. They were placed side
by side on the sward by friends who
were present and the strangers who
worked so hard and nobly to recover
them. 1t was
A SAD AND AFFECTING SIGHT,
Affectionate husband, indulgent
father, good citizen; obedient son,
loving brother, gay companion
man in his prime, rosy youth, cut
off SO suddenly.
All that kind hands could do was
sadly done, and inst cad of the gay
party of the morning on the Isle, in
the afternoon and returning in the
evening it was but a sorrowful and
gloomy cortege.
When the train pulled into the
depot here, the platform and space
about the cars was surrounded by
a vast crowd, all in sympathy
and a few over anxious to crafty
curiosity. AT the depot the bodies
were taken in charge by the under
taker and conveyed 10 the doubly