The Washington times., 1901-11-03

1t was yacht. wonder why these peo-
pie always carry a menagerie on their
boats. Well, the beast this time was a
goat, an onery goat. We got hold of the
owner of the yacht and some of the
guests that he had with him, and then
this goat wanted to climb in. We couldn't
pull away, for the passengers had not all
been rescued, and this animal was try
ing to butt way in with his head. We
had to stun him with an oar"
Did he die?"
Did you ever see goat die? suppose
he swan ashore when he got good and
ready. No, you can't kill billy goat
with anything short of electrocution. And
even then its odds he will hire a lawyer
to say you are charging too much for
magnetic healing.
Did you ever rescue big animals?'
We went out after an elk last year
that hac escaped from the Lincoln Park
zoo. We couldn't catch the beast, though;
all we could do was to turn it to the
shore. Finally we got it in an angle of
the pier and it was lassoed from shore.
Then, of course, horses often get out too
far in the water and the owner will give
the crew donation to turn them back.
But those sort of things are only incl
notony of a duh day. We are not sup
posed really to go in this way, but we
are supposed to take a practice spin ev-
cry once in while. and this is regarded
In that light.
Curious applications are not infre-
quent, and we get calls to go out and
rescue everything from a toy boat to an
ocean steamer"
AN ocean steamer?''
Yes; there is one man In this town
who was in big wreck at sr5-once, and
it turned his mind. He is perfectly sane
bat in certain conditions of the weather
sort of vision comes over him and he
sees this wreck again. Then he button
holes some passer-by and tells him to run
to the life saving station, as there is
wreck at such and such a place"
How do you know that it is this man
unless he comes himself?'
I'VE had a talk with him, and humored
him that the life saving department had
presented him with medal which he
must wear on broad red ribbon right
across his waistcoat. So when any ore
comes to us with story of a big wreck
of which we have not heard, we ask him
whether his informant was not wearing
this ribbon, and in every case we are
able to show that the report is false.
There are not many false alarms, for
the reason that our telescopes are so
powerful that in nearly all instances we
can cover the field we have to cover with
vision, and, therefore, can soon verify
the truth or the faIsity of a report. In
deed. report which is true seldom comes
before we are in our boats ready to go
out or already on the way.
Then all sorts of Deople ima gine that
they are called 10 be heroes and wish to
go out with the boats and save lives and
do all sorts of melodramatic things. but
there is nothing in it save craving for
notoriety, and the occasions when a visi-
tor has gone out with boat are very few,
and then IL has generally been due to Off
cial order and on a calm day.
Belts are great help, and there would
be many more lives lost than at present
If It were not for these devices. But
strange things happen in connection with
these at times. l remember wreck about
three years ago when three men were
thrown into the water. Life belts were
handy and each got hold OF one.
Now. these men had never seer a life
belt before and di6n't know what to do
with them. They found they fioated. how
ever. and thought the correct caper was
to stand on them. Curiously enough, they
had all been Michigan river drivers in
their youth. and so they were able to do
1t more readily than any other men |
know, but We all nearly tainted with
laughter to gee these men standing brave
ly upon the belts and every moment fall
ing. because a life belt lis not like log;
II is lighter and much more insecure
But of ali the devices which have been
invented for safety on the water the cork
jacket is the best. A good one Is quite
light and does not take up much space,
and with one of these on a man or wo-
man who has never learned TO swim can
find the way to shore without difficulty.
You cannot sink. and II is matter of in
stinct to paddle with the hands toward
the shore when you want TO get there.
1T is a pity that more people do not
learn to swim. and I think that this Is
largely due to the fact that there
are no natatoriums upon the lake where
the people who are going boating all the
time would need them. Any action look
ing toward the establishmentof such a
place would be warmly greeted by all the
life savers, as II will lessen their burdens
and when accidents do occur make the
proportion of lives saved even greater
than II is at the present time. me.'-Chicago
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