The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-02-28
SWAN IN ICY WATER.
lie Crossed setauket Lake on n stranr,
Wager.

| He Gross ID Setauket Lake on n STRANGE
| Wager.
From the New York Tribune.
A strange wager was quietly made
and won last Saturday night in Sc
tauket, Long Island. with a view Of
testing human endurance in cold
water. William Sckles, a weII-known
| young man of the village, declared
| that he could swim across Setauket
lake. a quarter of a mile, without a
stitch OF clothing on him and with the
thermometer considerably below the
| freezing point. Three well-known Sc
tauket men, DR.. Bates. Elias II. Davis
and James Fallon. declared that no
human being could go through the or
| deal without permanent injury
The wager was brought about by the
| four men discussing the death OF a
| horse that happened to fall into freez-
ing water and died simply from the eff
fects of the exposure soon afterward.
Mr.. Sickles listened to the discussion
and finally declared that a man could
endure cold in any form better than a
horse. His opinion was opposed. Then
he announced his willingness to swim
naked across Setauket lake that night.
The three men declared that he could
not do II, but Sickles insisted that he
could and offered to put up money on
II. The wager was promptly ac-
cepted.
That night the four men repaired to
Davis hotel, which is on the edge of
the lake. The attempt was to be made at
O'Clock in the evening, and the Their
mometer at that hour indicated IL de-
grees below freezing point. Sickles I'M
dressed i'm the hotel, and accompanied
by the doctor and Davis and Fallon,
ran down to the lake shore and
plunged into the icy waters.
He struck out boldly for the goal on
the other side, Captain Hudson's mill.
but the three men who accompanied
him did not believe that he could get
across. and, supposing that he would
return. stood on the shore in readiness
to launch a boat if he showed signs of
distress
But Sicl1les kept right on, swimming
clean overland stroke. He soon
reached the middle of the lake, and in
few minutes, was on the last half |
and nearing the goal. The three men |
then fastened to the other side of the |
lake to await his arrival, the doctor |
taking restoratives with him and Da- |
Wis having several blankets. With the |
same vigorous stroke with which he /
started, Sickles neared the goal in a |
few minutes. He was assisted out of |
the water. rolled in a blanket and /
started on a run to regain the hotel |
kitchen, where a roaring fire was
awaiting him.
In a few minutes he was dressed
again and declared that aside from
the natural exhaustion of such a rapid |
swim, he felt none the worse for the
experiment. AS he manifested no in
dications Of cold since Sunday night
or any deleterious results of the expo
sure, Sickles has claimed the money
and received 1t.
When seen by a Tribune reporter.
Mr.. Sickles said: 1T have always main
tained that a man can stand more cold
than horse. l have been some years
at sea and have been exposed to fear
fully cold weather. OF course, there is
some difference in swimming in salt
and fresh water, but l always have in
sisted that man could endure expo
sure to cold better than a horse or
most any other animal. l have fire.
quently jumped overheard while at sea
In winter and taken a short swim and
thought little of 1t. The fresh water
in Setauket lake, OF course, was chill
only additional evidence of the endu-
rance Of the human body.
The thermometer at the time I
went into the water was IL degrees
above zero and was rapidly growing
colder. Ice had formed along the bor-
ders of the lake, so l had to walk out
on the ice some distance before / could
get into the water. Several times be-
fore in my life have been exposed to
the water when the thermometer was
below freezing point. once / fell from
a schooner off Bay Ridge and ii was
two hours before 1 could get ashore.
On another occasion / fell overheard
off the Jersey coast and was three
hours in ice and cold water"