Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1885-10-07
Remarkable swfmrnins.

In relation to the sIde stroke now so
popular IN this country il originated on
the other side of the "herTing pond. ."
The speed that can be obtained by the
use of the side stroke is wonderful. 1t
is used by all professionals and many
amateurs ID races of short and middle
distances. although the old breast stroke
is still relied on In long journeys be.
Cause of it being less tiresome 1t is
strange fact that fOndnesS for the water
and an ability to accomplish great nata-
tOrial feats is hereditary. In some fam.
lies the championship at various dist
ances has descended from father TO son
for generations, and i'll no case IS this
more noticeable than In that of the
Beckwith family. Father and sons,
mothers and daughte shave performed
great feats of speed and endurance, and
to-day Willie Beckwith and his sister
Agnes are considered second to none in
the world. The Finny family, too, or
AS they might be punnlngly termed, the
Finny tribe, have best records To their
credit. The JOneSeS and f. T. and W.
Blew are also record performers.
Ofthe lady swimmers, however, Miss
| Agnes Beckwitb is the most remarka-
bic. Many will remember her great
swim from Sandy Hook to ROckaway
inlet in heavy sea about two years
| ago, and on which occasion she SWAN
| sixteen miles in hours 80 minutes 10
seconds. Her long swim of 100 hours
| in the Westminster aquarium in 1880
was also remarkable feat. When but
II years old. or in 1875 Miss BeckwIth
accomplished the unprecedented feat
! by a woman of swimming five miles in
! the Thames river in hour and min
/ utes, and a year later she SWAN twenty
miles III . hours and % minutes. One
of the most remarkable swimming featS
on record, however, WAS also accom-
I piished by female natatOr, Miss Ed.
| Johnson, who swan ald tiOated for
| thirty-One consecutive hours in the
Black Pool, England baths. Other
/ women have also distinguished them
selves in the water. Miss Theresa
I johnson, Miss Laura Saigeman, and
Miss Emily Parker have all got through
the water for given distances in faster
time than any other females. "LuI-
line," the water queen, was wont to
remain under water long enough to
partake of light refreshments. and at
the Oxford Music hal( 10 Lo0don, in
15Si, she remained Submerged fer 2
minutes and 81 secObsis. Wonderful
as that appears, it is nothing when
compared TO the featof Peter johnson,
who, on April 6 1888, remained under
water in a tank at the Royal Music hall
in London for 1 minutes and seconds.
When 1t is of course desirable that
woman know how TO sustain herself
in the water, yet 1t seems that as |
sport it should be purely a masculine |
pursuit. Men always have and prob |
ably always will excel as natatOrs, and |
record performances by males are far |
superior to those by the gentler sex.
The great performances by the La
mented hero w bb often caused won
der, and yet he was not so successful as
prize winner as Willie Beckwith or
j. FinneS. Indeed, they generally
proved superior to the rash athlete who
found his death in the whirlpOols of
of Niagara. But Webb was remark
able swimmer. While others proved
speedier for short distances. he was un-
approachable at long distances. His
records fer swimming seventy-fOUr
hours with only four minutes rest and
for keeping afiOat sixty hours without
having touched anything by which rest
could be obtained are still the best.
Among shOrt-distance swimmers the
NAMES of Harry Gurr and Harry Moore
will always remain first. They were
really the mOdiiiers of the English side
stoke aud more than twenty years
ago startled the aquatic world by their
speed. AT that time the facilities for
timing races were not so good as OF Tt
cent years, and records are now on the
books which Moore and Gurr could
beat with little trouble. Gurr's record
of swimming half mile on his back in
10 minutes and 20 seconds is still the
best, There are few of the cOntempC-
raries of those two great swimmers who
now trouble themselves with matters
and the only two IN this coun-
try, so far rs known, are Theodore L. !
Donaldson, the celebrated swimmer
and athlete, and Ed. Plummer. The |
former is still in the ring, and daily
disports himself in the waves at Fort |
Hamilton, and enjoys himself while he
lnstructs others in the useful art
Plunging and swimming under water
are two useful branches of swimming
that are not cultivated to any great {
extent here. The best recorded plunge
was by j. Strickland, at Melbourne, {
Australia. IN March, 1888. when that ,
athlete dived from a stand five feet
above the waters surface with sufi
cient force to traverse seventy-three !
feet and one inch before he appeared On ,
topOf the water. The nearest approach,
to that performance was by Horace
Davenport, England's ex ameteur CHAM
piOn, who plunged seventy feet and !
seven inches. At swimming under |;
water ]. Finny holds the record. At
Black Pool, England, in 1852. Finny
'wam 1l34 yards before appearing above {
.he water,
In this country the records of profess {
'ional swimmers are generally more
'fishyn than the swimmers. Those ]
made by the amateurs, however, have !
been made under proper aus {
)ices. At only four distances have |
records been made in this country that
'hOw greater speed than that of English $
swimmers. In those cases the greater S
ipeed is only apparent, as very strong 1
ides have made very great differences. @
As an instance, the mile records may
De cited. Here Charles f. Senk has h
wan mile in II minutes 42i seconds /
With strong tide. With only a mod 2
rate tide in his favor, r. P. Magee, of d
swan on the Harlem river
me mile IN 25 minutes At seconds, =.
while in England in still water J. J. !
jollier, prominent professional, took
3 minutes 19} seconds to SWIM one J
nile. In swimming, however as In ..
very other branch Of sport. AmerI-
ans are coming to the front, and the
are that within few years t
he amateurs and professionals will T
lold the best records. i