The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1899-08-18
OUR STAFF
CORRESPONDENT
Writing From Far Famed
Atlantic City,
GIVES A GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION
OfHOw Too Venturesome Swimmers are
Rescued Prom Watery Graves.-The
Crowds There This Year Break the
Record.

ATLANTIC CITY, n. j., Aug. II -
The past week has been the busiest
one of the season in Atlantic City,
and it is said that last Saturday and
Sunday were the biggest days ever
known in the history of this resort.
1t is estimated that fully 100000 visi
tors were in the city during those
two days. The records kept by the
railroads showed that on Saturday
and Sunday the trains brought in
53 220 persons, who, for the greater
part, came to spend day or two.
The hotels were all crowded to their
utmost capacity, and many who
failed to secure accommodations at
all, bad TO take the trains and re-
turn home. Taking into considera-
ton the fact that so many new
hotels have been built since last
summer, the overflow of old and
new alike certainly indicates that
thousands more are here than ever
before.
The board walks and beach on
these two days were indeed a sight
to behold. Imagine walk fifty
feet wide and four miles long thor
Oughly packed and jammed with
an evermOving, surging throng, and
the surf and beach for the same dis
tance crowded with bathers, and
you will have some conception of
| the scene.
The first drowning of the season
occurred this week, when a man
! from Philadelphia, who prOfeSSed
to be an expert swimmer, attempted
to swim around one of the long piers
that extended far out into the ocean.
1t is noticeable fact that many of
the persons who are rescued are
professedly good" swimmers, who
venture too far out from the shore.
Yet the foolhardy continue to take
the chances, and each day has it's
quote Of rescues. There is talk of a
law being passed by the city cOun-
Gil, prohibiting persons from going a
certain distance from the shore.
Such an ordinance would indeed be
a good one, for every time a bather
goes out into from II to 40 feet of
rolling, seething water, he not only
endangers his own life, but the lives
of others. Every time cry of help
goes up from a distressed brother
some of his companions are certain
to plunge after him and attempt to
rescue him, and they, two, are placed
in jeopardy. They also endanger
the lives of the life guards, who
needless of danger, plunge through
the surging billows in their attempt
to rescue them, and they frequently
have to bring two or three lifeless
forms back with them. No less than
IL
are made in Atlantic City eacn sea-
son.
These life guards are a brave set
of fellows. They are stationed al
various points along the beach, clad
in scarlet coats, tanned and weather
beaten, their legs bare and burnt { l.
most black from constant exposure
to the sun and water.
Let us picture to ourselves rescue
scene. Hundreds of people, say, are
dispOrting themselves in the surf
A group of swimmers who have gone
= out some twenty or thirty yards
from the main body of the bathers
f are being closely watched by the
, anxious guards, who are ever on tht
alert for danger. Suddenly one o
the men who moment ago wa
swimming about so calmly wher,
! the water is green and deep, is seel
: to throw up his hands with wilC
cry and sink. His companions near
4 est him swim toward the spot, paus
= ing for moment to hoarsely cry
n "Helpl help" In an instant a thous
: and people know that a man i
drowning, and their faces blanch
and all the merriment ceases.
simultaneously with the cry, thre
or four of the guards have plunge,
into the surf with their life buoys
$ On the guards plunge, the frightene,
bathers scattering right and left t
clear their path, while score o
willing hands pay out the rope
II ready to pull it in as soon as the ma
IS is lifted to the buoy. Painting, bu
: determined, the life guards reacI
their man. But now, possibly, the
have two to rescue, for anothe
swimmer, who bravely went to tn
Il rescue of his drowning cOmrade,
exhausted, too. One hand keeps tn
= guard atioat, while the other serve
l. TO fasten the rescued and rescuer-
}. the former now a limp and lifeles
N mass-to the buoy. Que of the guard
puts his sinewy hand TO his mout
! and yells: Pull away, there, easy |!
?. and with infinite care and sOlicitud
the water-sOaked party is towe
safely TO shore. Once on the beact
a crowd, fairly black in its number
A swarms about the lifeless man, an
? the guards force them back to Civ
o. him air. They work with him a
hour; he RECEIVERS, gets to his batt
Z house, disappears, and the merr
III throng goes back to play. Such OF
e currences are of daily happening.
10 A most daring feat was witnesse
on the beach yesterday, while
storm was raging and the surf Wa
'e higher and rOugher than il has bee
;, at any time this season. A bath'
n jumped into the sea while the SUI
was at its toughest, swan out 10 th
q end Of the long steel rier-a distanC
Of three quarters Of a mile, perhsI