Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-06-19
D EAOLY LIVE WIRE
George Bowers, q Canal Boatman. Killed
Instantly.
Under the Aqueduct Bridge-Tbc
Wire That Did the
Work.

George Bowers. a canal hand, was in
stantly killed last evening about Ie.40
o clock while endeavoring to turn a canal
boat beneath the Aquedlfct bridge the un-
fortunate man catching hold of a live cleo
tric WIRE containing voltage sufficient to
cause instant death. His friends endaaV
ored to restore animation but to no avail.
and the police were notified The body was
taken to the Georgetown police station and
later removed to the morgue at the sixth
precinct, where Coroner Carr will make an
investigation at O'Clock this afternoon.
Bowers was employed on the pleasure
boat Mule, which runs between George
town and Great Falls, and It was on the
return trip that the accident occurred. Capt
Magruoer, in command of the boat. and
rank Donaldson, who lives at Rosslyn,
va, were the only ones on the boat in the
immediate vicinity of the fatality. After
landing had been made and the passengers
disembarked Capt. Magruder ordered the
boat turned around. Bowers and Donald
son IN doing this work both reached in the
dark to get a grasp on something connect
ed with the bridge. Both mems hands
came In contact with live wire. Donald
son did not fully grasp the wire and he
was only thrown violently to the deck
bowers, however must have secured
run grip and he was killed instantly. The
nashing of electric sparks around the man
was startling. Capt. Magruder was on the
toWpath at the time of the tragedy direct
ing the operations of the men. and friends
of the captain resent deeply the statement
given as coming from the police that the
captain was in the cabin drinking
BoWers was from Sharpsburg, Md, and
had only been here short time. He leaves
wife, who is in Georgetown in destitute
circumstances.
The Deadly Wire.
Speaking of the killing of Bowers. Mr..
w. c. Allen, the District electrical en-
gineer. said to a Star reporter today that
the wire which killed the man is one of
those belonging to the Potomac Electric
POWER Company, used to furnish incan-
descent lighting for the Aqueduct bridge
The accident, in Mr.. Aliens opinion, was
due to imperfect insulation, and in all
probability the unfortunate caught hold of
the wire with one hand and then caught
hold with the other hand of an iron part of
the bridge, thus forming what is known as
a short circuit, and sending the current,
about LOO volts, through his body.
Mr.. Allen stated that during the day.
time there is no current running through
these wires, two switches having recently
been put in, which adds to the better pro-
lection of the public. No complaint has
ever been made in the matter of the wires
under the bridge by the canal people or by
others, and from an investigation made at
Mr. Aliens direction this morning, it APP
pears that the wires hang high enough to
avoid endangering the lives of those using
the canal. The wire which the man caught
hold Of was found to be broken, but wheth-
er 1t was broken before he caught hold of
it, or whether his fall broke it, does not
definitely appear. 1t is probable, 50 Mr..
Allen believes, that Bowers caught hold of
the wire while he was standing on an ele-
waited position on the boat, and, in doing
so, grounded it, sending the full strength
of the current through him. The defective
insulation, thinks Mr.. Allen. was due either
to the effects Of the weather upon the wire
cable, its breaking, rubbing in some way
so as to break the insulation. The cable,
he stated, is swung high enough to enable
ordinary canal boats and those on them
to avoid coming in contact with it. and Mr..
Allen, therefore, believes that the boat on
which Bowers was killed being higher
than the ordinary canal boat, the man was
thereby enabled to reach the cable.