Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-03-07
THE INQUEST
On the Body of MIR. Nathan
r. Vail.
STORY OF THE ACCIDENT.
The Fruitless Efforts of Those ON
Shore to Save Him-The
Jnry's Verdict.

coroner Meredltn neld an inquest
yesterday, at Redondo Beach, on the
body Of N. Il. Vail, whose sad death
startled the whole community. The
story of the accident was told by the
witnesses as follows:
w. NJ. Fowler testified: / reside in
San Francisco and am a wharf and
bridge builder. 1 have known the
deceased about two weeks. I am
superintendent for the American
Bridge and Building Company, and
am experimenting the building of q
wharf at Redondo Beach. The de-
ceased came here yesterday about /
O'Clock and asked me if l could let
him have some men to take him
aboard ship that is lying off the
beach. 1 told him 1 thought it, was
too rough, and asked him to come in
and have some dinner and we would
see after that. / Ispoke to some of
the men and they said it was too
rough to go, and l told him I would
not send them unless they wanted to
go of their own accord. The deceased
then said it was necessary that he
should 60 aboard of the ship, and if /
could not send him he would go and
get the fishermen and have them put
him on board of the ship. l then
offered to send him by team to the
fishermen, and also send boat to
where the fishermen were, as it is
supposed to be smoother where the
fishermen are. He tol me it was not
necessary to send boat. because if I
could not send him, he would rely ON
the fishermen to take him out, as he
did not think it was any trouble to
put him out at this place. He got
into his buggy and started to go to
the fishermen. In about one hour
he returned and said that the fisher
men were all out. He went down to
the beach, and asked me if
l was or was not going to
send him out to the ship.
told him / would not unless the men
were perfectly willing to 60 out with
him of their own accord. He then
asked me if it was a money considera-
ton, and l told him it was not. He
told me he wanted to go to the ship SO
as to have the Captain bring the ship
down between the moorings and in a
different place from where it was. 1
left him for short time and he after
wards came to me and asked again to
be taken out the ship. told him /
would ask the men and if any of them
would volunteer, we'll and good.
Three of the men agreed to 60 and we
took the boat down to the beach and
made it ready. l saw my men strip
themselves, and | went to the de-
ceased and tried to have him not 90
out until the morning and told the
men that if they did not consider it
safe to give up the attempt.
They launched the boat and when
they got outside the third breaker
the boat filed. Two of the men
swan ashore and the other remained
on the bottom of the upturned boat
and tried to throw a rope to the de-
ceased, but did not succeed. The
men righted the beat and made
several attempts to get to him, and
others tried to swim to him from the
shore, but without success. l think
everything was done that was possib
to save him. Most of the men are
accustomed to the sea and to surfing.
Every possible effort was made to re-
vive the deceased after he was
brought ashore. The deceased told
me he was an old sea captain, and
that he thought it was hard if l
would not accommodate him by send
ing him out to the ship.
j. G. Burr testified reside in San
Francisco and am a pile driver and
wharf builder. Yesterday afternoon
about o'clock I came out of my tent
and went down to the beach. l saw
several men struggling in the water
and boat capsized. went to the
assistance of the deceased and got
chilled and was compelled to swim to
the boat. I could have saved the de-
ceased if had had surf line. l
succeeded in bringing the deceased
ashore after made the third attempt.
l think the deceased was dead when
/ brought him ashore. When was
on the top of the boat heard him call
for help only once. We did every
thing we could to save the life of the
deceased. The surf was running very
heavy. While | was trying to save
the deceased the under current would
carry me away from him and
I would get tagged out,
so that was compelled
to 60 to the beach to rest. When l
first saw the deceased in the water he
was about four or five hundred feet
away from the beach.
w. C. Burnett testified: | reside
in San Francisco and am a wharf
builder. Yesterday afternoon about
two O'Clock, and the deceased and
two other men started to go to ship
that lays off the beach. After we got
into the breakers, they were very
rough and filed the boat which sunk
and threw us all overheard. The
deceased jumped from the boat at the
same time as the rest of US and
started toward the beach. The
breakers we're running very heavy
and we had considerable difficulty
getting ashore owing to the strong
undertow. | and the other two sue
ceeded in getting to the shore. and
everything that we could do was done
to save the deceased. I did not see
the deceased when he was finally
brought ashore, as | was used up
pretty we'll and had to go to the tent.
The boat we tried to go to the ship in,
was fiat bottomed skif.
The jury returned a verdict Of death
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