Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-09-04
Two WERE DROWNED.
Sod Happenin he Opening Of the Fres
Bashfng Beach.


YOUNG HARRY H'aRAws BODY Sor RECOVERED
UNTIL THIS hoRNISe-THE OTHER uNfoRru-
NATE IDENTIFIED As BooKKKEPER IN THE
BOSTON HousE-wHAr suPr. STEVENS sArs.
There was sad scene at the free bathing
beach yesterday afternoon when the officers Of
the police boat Joe Blackburn took from the
water the body Of an unknown young man who
had lost his life in some unaccountable manner
while taking a bath. To add to the sadness Of
the occasion there was still another body in the
water which the officers were unable to find.
and when darkness came on the search was
abandoned until this morning.
The one whose body was not recovered was
Harry McGraw, the thirteen-year- son of
Mr.. J. L. McGraw Of No. s47 25th street north
west Mr.. McGraw stood on the bank overlook
ing the beach, but nothing could be done after
dark and he had to return home to his wife
with the sad news that their beloved one's body
was still in its watery grave.
BUT LITTLE KNOWN OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES
But little is known Of the drowning of the
two persons, and it was not known that they
were drowned until one Of the numerous bath
ers stepped on the body Of the unknown one
and gave the alarm: "A boys drownedr'
There we're about sixty boys in the water at
the time and those on shore thought the
cry was intended for a joke, as such jokes are
being played constantly by the boys. The boy
who made the cry repeated the complaint and
Policeman Cotter, who WAS on duty at the
beach, hastened to the waters edge and got
one OF the boys to dive for the body.
He went down about the spot where the other
boy said he had stepped on the body. and sure
tempting to raise the dead one the body slipped
and slid down the edge of the nil. Superin-
tendent Stevens. who was looking after the la
oorers employed on the beach, was soon on
hand, and to make doubly sure that some one
was drowned be and officer Cotter called the
boys ashore and made each one claim his pile
OF clothing, as the bath houses we're not open
and the bathers had left their clothes along the
shore and in the weeds.
One by one the boys came out and when each
mad stood by his bundle Of clothes all of the
wearing apparel on the beach appeared to have
claimants.
TWO SUITS REMAINED UNCLAIMED.
second count was made and then il was
found that two suits remained unclaimed, and
that satisfied the superintendent that there was
some foundation for the first complaint
The McGraw boys clothes were identified by
his companions who had gone to the beach with
him, but the other pile of clothes could not be
identified There was outing shirt in the
pile and on it was the letter III" The trousers
coat was made of blue material. There was
also among the clothes a white necktie and
straw hat
The pockets were searched and in them were
found scapular, Is cents and a note from
Henry Warren, but there was nothing about
the note to indicate to whom it was addressed.
After this was done Mr.. Stevens went out in a
small boat and dragged the river until the
rival OF the police boat, when Harbormaster
sutton lowered his boats and set his men to
work with the graphing irons.
THE UNKNOWN BODY RECOVERED.
They dragged near the shore on the side of
the beach set apart for white boys. and after
about thirty minutes work the body WAS re-
covered and taken ashore.
1t was the body of finely built young man,
apparently about twenty years old. He was
good looking and had liz bit hair cat pompadour
From the time the report was first made I'M
I'll the body was recovered the crowd increased
and there were fully l, 600 persons along the
shore when the body was taken from the water
body was abandoned when night came on and
the crew Of the boat were instructed to report
for duty early this morning
The work of dragging for the body was re-
newed this morning.
M0RAw's BODY FOUND.
In addition to the officers of the police boat,
friends of the deceased were on the river early
this morning dragging for McGraw's body,
which was found about 1890 O'clock The body
was taken to Undertaken Clements establish
ment III Georgetown and prepared for burial.
HARRY KInFER IDENTIFIED.
This morning the body of the other young
man was identified as that of Harry Kiefer.
who lived at No. 92l 9TH street northwest. He
was employed in the Boston House as q book
keeper.
Deputy Coroner shaeffer viewed the bodies
and gave certificates Of death from accidental
drowning.
What Mr.. Stevens Says.
To the Editor of The Evening Star:
1t is my very painful duty to report the drown
ing stsome hour before 8 o clock today of young
man at the bathing beach. From until 10
o'clock this morning was on the beach direct
ing the work Of laborers who are grading a
portion of the grounds to prevent the destruc-
ton OF the premises by heavy rains, and at 10
l went to attend to the duties Of my Office. At
returned to the beach to discover at low
tide all the points yet uncovered with sand SO
that might direct the distribution OF the last
load, which was expected to arrive at any
hour. just as I had completed setting the
stakes, in which service i went all along the
shore among the boys who were stripped for
bathing, there came hushed but startling
cry of "A boy drowned and Policeman Cotter
which was to this effect One boy had stepped
on q body under water, and one OF his com
panions diving down had raised the body so
that three or four boys saw the feet, but 1t slid
away into deep water. This story was not fully
credited, because the boys were unknown to us,
and boys are full of all manner Of pranks for
fun. thought as no boy was missing and no
suit OF clothes unclaimed of the little
heaps scattered on the wharf, on the
sand and among the weeds when Policeman
Cotter called every boy to claim his clothes.
that some boy had dived down and allowed
himself to be stepped on, &C., and then had
swan away to come up elsewhere and enjoy
the joke; but the earnestness Of the claim that
it was dead body caused me to have a float
launched and upon this i raked the bottom
where the boys directed for over an hour with
no result Then the boys were more carefully
sorted and two suits Of clothing were taken and
locked up by the policeman as unclaimed. Then
l went to the nearest fire, heated my long iron
rod and after bending its end into hook l
again went at the search and continued it
another hour until the harbor police boat
sounded its whistle at the mouth of the lake
The harbor master in person brought his little
steamer up to the wharf, quickly his row boat
was launched and two men began the search
which was watched by nearly thousand pair
of anxious eyes, there being many ladies and
gentlemen present besides the bathers and in
about half an hour a thrill of horror
passed through the throng as a long and
steady pull Of the graphing hooks
brought a dead body to the surface. The face
was pleasant and in no way distorted, vet un-
known to any one present, though we have often