Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1900-07-10
FEAT OF A GIRL ATHLETE.
Wonderful Swimming Ability Displayed
by Miss Lydia WinterhaIter.

The heroine of the narrative which
follows, and which appeared in The
Milwaukee Sentinel of the 9th inst,
is a granddaughter of our residents,
Mr.. and Mrs. FL. Bellack, and has
often visited here. Many of her ac-
quaintauces are familiar with her
great fondness for aquatic sports, and
to them the wonderful exhibition of
swimming given by her on Sunday is
of particular interest. The Sentinel
says:
1.-The remarkable feat of swimming
for forty-One minutes and during all
that time using one hand to. hold an
open umbrella over her head with g.
stiff wind blowing, was accomplished
yesterday morning by Miss Lydia.
Winterhalter, of 695 Holton street
10 win a wager and show an instruc-
tor at Rohn's swimming school that
she was better judge of her own en-
durance than he, she undertook to re-
main in the water under these difficult
ties for half an hour and succeeded in
| oVerreaching the time limit by eleven
minutes.
1.-The undertaking would have been
formidable one for any practiced
swimmer, for the burden OF support
ing an umbrella, light though it may
be, is considerable for that length of
time without shift from hand to
hand, while it also means that one
arm is useless as far as assisting
IN the operation of swimming is con-
cerned, and to the presence of
strong breeze, and it is seen the self
imposed task was one from which al
most anyone would shrink For a
young woman, therefore, to accom-
plish it with its tax on the strength
and endurance. is matter of special
note, and in consequence Miss Winter
halter has found herself in the DOS
session of a newly acquired reputation
as swimmer deserving of respectful
consideration by the best of the many
persons of that portion of the city
who are accomplished in the aquatic
line. The young woman, who is 19
years of age, has been fond of the
water ever since she was a child and
she has always been an adept at the
sport. but it was not until her
achievement of yesterday that she had
an opportunity to demonstrate what
she could actually do
''Miss Winterhalter was at the swim
ming school yesterday forenoon with
several companions, one Of whom was
attempting to swim about with an
umbrella in her hand, when a dis
cussion arose as to the difficulty of
the feat, Miss Winterhalter express
ing the opinion that it was not es-
pecially hard and that she could do it
for half an hour if need be. The
boast was not made with any inten-
tion of putting it into practice, but
as one of the swimming instructors
who took part in the discussion in
sisted that the young woman could
not possibly do as she proposed, Miss
Winterhalter's assurance asserted it.
self and she inquired how much he
was willing to wager on his opinion.
A 81 bet was the outcome, and the
other swimmers at the place gathered
about to watch the experiment.
''Miss Winterhalter was as good as
her word. She swan into the deep
water with the umbrella in her right
hand, and set about to earn that
dollar bill. The conditions were that
she should hold the umbrella in the
same hand without changing, though
she, could use any method of swim
ming that she desired. The young
woman swan about while on her
side and then on her back, and then
rested by treading water, but during
it all the umbrella continued its up
right position above her head, and
never gave the slightest indication of
dropping, as the minutes passed by.
The swimmer laughed and conversed
with those watching the feat, and
gave no signs of exhaustion, and
when finally the half-hour was pro-
nounced up by the time-keepers and
the wager was won, she decided to
stay little longer. Finally when
forty-one minutes had elapsed she
swan ashore and clambered out,
apparently as fresh as when she had
stepped in the water, nearly three
quarters of an hour before
''To cap the climax of her feat,
Miss Winterhalter refused to accept
her well-earned money, regarding her
gain in local fame as quite sufficient
10 pay her for her accomplishment. ~