Evening star., 1898-08-15
THREE MEN DROWNED
Shocking Casualty Yesterday in the
Potomac at Georgetown.
BOAT CAPSIZED IN MIDRIVER
Survivors Can Throw No Light on
the Cause.
SAD SUNDAY TRAG EDY

While crossing the Potomac river yes
terday evening about O'Clock from Ana
lostan Island boat containing eight
young men, was capsized about one hun
dred yards from the wharf at the foot of
31st street. which resulted in the drown
ing of three of the occupants and the mar
row escape of several more. The search
for the bodies was begun Immediately and
While one was recovered last night, the
remaining two were brought up this morn
ing and taken to the morgue at the sew
enth precinct station. Deputy Coroner
Glazebrook viewed the remains this morn
Ing. and. after questioning several of the
survivors. gave a certificate of death due
to drowning.
The victims were Charles Royce, aged
twenty-five years, a laborer; Lawrence
Warwick. aged nineteen, a printers ap-
prentice. and John Henderson, aged TWEEN
ty-one, a tile setter. Besides these there
were in the boat Robert Coxon. Benjamin
Royce, brother to one of the victims:
Harry Macaboy. Harry Serrin and Charles
Mertz. After the party went overheard
there was struggle to escape, and FOUR Of
the number managed to hold on to the keel
of the upturned boat until rescued. AS
soon as the survivors reached the shore
they went to their respective homes and
secured word of the affair.
Difficult to Ascertain Cause.
Just how the accident occurred Is hard
to tell. Not one Of the survivors seems to
have a clear idea Of what happened. 1t
appears from their statements that the en-
tire thing occurred in a very few moments,
and as each struggled to save himself no
attention was paid to the others. In fact,
none OF the youths know how the boat up
set. They claim that there was no fooling
among the party. They are unanimous in
their opinion that the boat dipped water
and in an effort to tight the craft the thing
turned over and all hands were dumped
into the water.
All of the victims and survivors live i'll
the northwest part of Georgetown. 1t seems
as though the Bryantown base ball team,
named after the section of Georgetown In
which the players resided, was scheduled
to play match game of ball yesterday
afternoon on Anaiostan Island with the
Rock Creek Stars, base bali team from
what is known as "Foggy Bottom The
former team with some friends reached the
island about o'clock In the afternoon.
other Nine Did Not Come
They waited for some time for their op-
ponents to show up, but the Rock Greek
Stars did not come. At one time it was
stated that there were fifty people On the
island waiting for the game to commence.
After practice playing with the ball for
some time, the players decided to club in
and purchase a keg of beer and enjoy them-
selves. Several members of the party went
and secured the beer, bringing back with
them a quarter keg.
In the meantime good many Of the spec
tators not expecting to witness a game of
base ball had left the place and crossed the
river In boat. When the beer was secur-
ed, some time about 3 o'clock there were
nineteen
the island. They tapped the keg and pro-
Gee ded to drink Its contents. Itswas fully
dusk when the keg was omptied, aGd then
the party started to go home. One of the
party, Harry Serrn, owned a bateau. about
fourteen feet long, which was used for
ferrying purposes. The river, owing to
the recent rains, is running quite high. End
the current Is much sWifter than ordnar-
lily. Serrin started to row the party back
to Georgetown. In the first boat load there
were eleven or twelve occupants. Some
others remained on the island for return
of the boat, fearing to go over with such
crowd. On the second trip there were only
eight occupants of the boat. No one for a
moment thought that there would he any
danger in the trip especially in view Of the
fact that the preceding boat load managed
to safely make the trip.
The Boat Capsized.
In the second trip, so far as can be learn
ed, the young men were scattered all over
the boat. The bow was pretty well filled,
while the stern was occupied by others,
and those who could not get seats were
sitting on the gunwaies. The load was
sufficient to sink the boat deep enough SO
that the water came within few inches of
the sides, not over six inches at the most
Everything went well until within about
100 yards of the wharf, when the batea u
was nearly opposite the store house of the
Independent Ice Company One of the
fn he Sfa
ana companion gave him slight push,
probably to laugh at the startled way he
would jump. The result was different from
expectations. Losing his equilibrium the
young man fell toward the water. In fall
ing he threw out his hand and caught hold
of the clothes of companion. Both went
overheard, and the sudden lurch of the
craft, as they splashed overheard, caused
the water to run in. The bateau dipped to
such an extent that before the other occu-
pants were aware of the fact all hands
We're struggling in the water.
Victims Could Not Swim,
Half of the party could not SWIM the
three victims being among the number
One man started to swim for the wharf
and was successful in reaching it, The
other members of the party managed to
struggle long enough to catch hold of the
keel of the capsized boat and Justify yell
Tor assistance Their cries were heard
Joseph Ritter, a well-known riverman hap
pened to be at Cumberland's boat house, at
the foot OF 32d street, and quickly jumping
into boat he rowed to the scene The
young men clinging to the boat were near
Iy exhausted when he reached Them Rit-
ter had some difficulty in getting the men
OH, but compelling them to listen to him
he towed the upturned boat to the wharf
and then managed to get every one safely
off. 1t was not until then that he learned
of the three missing members of the party,
Henderson, Warwick and Royce were seat
ed in the bow of the boat Just before the
accident occurred.
Not one of the survivors remembered see-
Ing them struggle in the water. From their
story 1t seems as though the three sank
as soon as they struck the water and never
came to the surface again. This may hard
ly be probable. but in the excitement of
the moment each youth was for saving
and paid no attention to his COM
panions. One of the members Of the res
cued party had part of his clothing torn
from the upper portion of his body Some
companion in an effort to save himself had
grasped hold of him, tearing the coat and
shirt and scratching the neck In the fran
tic movements Of the hands.
ROyce's Body Recovered.
With the hopes of rescuing the bodies of
those missing. and possibly restore life. an
energetic search was made. Ritter. with
Frank Bremmer, spent some little time in
the vicinity, and inside of half and hour