Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-09-19
DROWNED AT THE BATHING BEACH
Young Man Who Was Alone and Who
Went Down Unnoticed.

| Went Down Unnoticed.
just two weeks ago today an inquest was
held on the bodies Of two young men who lost
t-eir lives at the bathing beach and this morn
| ing Coroner Patterson was called upon to per-
form the same duty in the case OF another
young man. This time the unfortunate young
! man II. 5. Heath, whose father lives in
Georgetown at No. 1898 n street. Heath
was eighteen years old and although he
/ could swim his father says he was
| not an exper. BY any means. Yesterday he left
home after lunch time to so to Capitol Hill.
| where he had some business to transact and
| SO far l. known he reached the beach at
J about $50 oclOsk.
! There were 2Io bathers registered yesterday,
/ so that when Nr. Heath registered there were
J many persons in the water. He was assigned
to bath house 50 and before going in
he exhibited an outing shirt and a
the Young man in charge of the house if that
/ costume was al that necessary and he was
\ Informed that II After chat he went
into the water and was to all appearances ono
] % the best swimmers there. Policeman Cotter
was on duty at the time and he noticed Mr..
| Heath in the water several times. When about
o clock report wis maize that he was missing
the officer called all the batlIcrs ashore and got
them to claim the houses in which their clothes
had been lett. The only house left without a
claimant was IS, and the officer was satisfied
that the man who had used it had gone under.
sEAECuISG FOR THE BODY.
Mr. W. Y. Stevens, the superintendent of tie
/ beach, was sent for and soon after he arrived
LIE had his hook rod out searching for the body,
but he failed 70 find it, The crew oil the police
boat appeared Later and soon had their drags
IN the water. They continued the work for
some time and finally gave II up tor the night,
intending to renew their efforts carly this
, morning.
A man named John Thomas. a stranger to
tie drowned man was granted permission TO
continue the search and Policeman LOTUS re-
manned with him. They worked hard until
, i'll OciOck. when their efforts were rewarded
/ and tie body Of the young man was brought
ashore. The bOdy was found directly in front
OF the beach about 100 feet from the shore
! The tc high at th" time and the water
was some thing like fifteen lee: deep.
When y had been made known that Heat tn
was missing Two Toys. Ernest Selby and George
Roberts. remembered having seen him sound
ing Tor bottom. They him with one hand
over nostri,s .nf the other lifted high in the
air In this position they him 20 down
twice, but thinking lac was only sounding for
bottom they paid no further attention to him.
Coroner Patterson gave permission Tor the re-
moyal IF the body and At was taken to the home
of Heaths parents.
Coroner Patterson decided today to hold an
inquest In Georgetown tomorrow morning at
IL O'Clock.
MB. STEVENS STATEMENT.
Mr.. Stevens. the superintendent Of the beach,
in speaking of the drowning today referred to
the fact that Heath was not missed when he
went under the water because there was no
one there who knew him. Now said Mr..
stevens. lis not that the reason why he was
drowned! l have repeatedly Insisted that
bather- should come IN little companies,
who shall have a positive understanding
that they will look after each other
and Immediately report any one miss
ing. they may possibly be recovered
while there Is yet lie Left. We have boat and
lie lines. which We can Use to reach the spot
quickly possible when signal OF distress 10
sounded, but when these searches have to be
made without knowing exactly where to search
we ought to have long fishing seine weighted
AID cOrked so that one edge VIII sink to the
Bottom and the other rise UP Ill the water. and
with this We could search all the waters i'll front
of our beach in i've minutes and recover any
body which III there wItho out using those horrid
graphing hooks. which are the final resort now.
Ii l. no consolation to me nor to the bereavcd
parents to know that the drownings on the
beach have not been one to every thousand
bathers. while more than that is the average in
other places. We want to secure to bathers the
greatest possible measure of safety, and San
think of no possible means better adapted to
secure that than for little groups to form, each
their own insurance company.
There is little doubt that any person in
health may be drowned and lie in the water an
hour or more with fair prospects Of being
sUscItated by careful means persistenty Used,
and 1 think if people will form such companies
and II We have a seine. that in any case of acct
dent q body need not lie in the water many
minutes. There was no time in the afternoon
when there was not at least twenty-five specta-
tors looking from the bank directly
upon this locality where the body was
found, only little over 100 feet
away in deep water. There we're 24S bathers
registered yesterday and both keepers and the
polIceI were kept very busy in waiting upon
them. Heath said he could swim. was eighteen
years old. and the keepers, surprising he
able to look out for himself, took no special
notice Of him. II the crowd Is to continue we
want "a better boat and another keeper to be all
the time III il on the water. The boat which
We have III process Of being calked and
painted TO stop leaks but il was immediately
launched and the search begun soon as
notice given of some one lost.
Orders have been issued to the keepers today
to ask every one who comes If he has company
with him and not To permit any one coming
alone to use the beach unless he first agrees
with others To join their company.
1t ha- been suggested that no one be permit
ted to swim out far from shore, but good swim
mers will not be thus restrained, and il we
make any such restrictions they will go off
alone where they III more danger than they
are here. The schools Will begin ON
Monday and from that time forward We
think the number of bathers will materially
decrease. Children within the school age will
no: be permitted the Use of the beach within
school hours nor at the noon recess, and
truants Will be driven away from the beach
during school hours We want light coarsely
meshed fishing seine about five feet wide and
fifty feet long. with 1000 feet of one-half inch
rope. and leads for one edge and corks for tine
other. Who will give material and who will
assist IL weaving the net!''