The weekly examiner., 1901-08-03
HOW PEOPLE DROWN
Old Life-Saver Says They Never
 Signal for Assistance.
Impression That a Drowning Person Comes to the Surface Three Times Said to Be Without
 Foundation.
Especial Washington Letter.)

NF ALI the stores about drown ing people, this is the most
 singular and interesting that
 the writer has ever heard. There is free bathing beach in the Potomac river which is carefully guarded, and yet quite a number of bathers have lost their lives there. One of the life savers there to-day said: ''In all my experience, and I have had consider able at various watering resorts, I have never known of a single instance of a drowning person calling for help.
 ''1t is generally supposed that per sons struggling in the water call for assistance, but such is not the case. For some reason, which can hardly be explained, they never signal help. both, mind you, and under they go. I have noticed this particularly at the Washington beach. In not a single instance has there been a call for help. I have pulled persons from the water within few feet of the raft who were struggling for life, yet who never ut tered a single outcry.
 Ut was only that I happened to mo- tice their peculiar actions in the water, and not the noise they made, that inn pelled me to go after them. Time and again 1 have seen poor swimmers start from the shore and after padding a short distance throw up one hand and go under. It is the most remarkable thing imaginable that they give no signal of distress when help is so near. I have often asked rescued persons why they did not call for help, but they could give no ex- planation. They knew they were drowning, but the only sign of their peril was the involuntary raising of the arm. have become so accus- toned to this sort of thing-that peculiar manner in which drowning person throws up the hand-that ing and splashing about can tell the one in danger in an instant.
 "When he, goes down it is with head thrown far back. As the water washes over the face up comes the, hand. Then it slowly disappears, going un- der inch by inch.
 'Then if anything is done it must be done quickly. I have heard many stories of drowning person making great racket to attract attention, but do not believe them. When more than one person is in danger I have known of calls, but invariably they came from the one who could swim enough to save himself, but who could not bring the drowning .one ashore The one in immediate peril simply goes under without a sound. I have been with fairly good swimmers who became exhausted, and who, without a word of warning, threw back the head as though about to float or swim on the back, and go under. As they sank one arm came up.
 'One would suppose that a person who could swim would be exempt from this dumbness in the moment of danger, but it is not so.s Of course, many persons who start from shore get out so far that they realize they cannot get back without assistance, and will call for help before their en- ergy has been all spent. Possibly they may manage to keep afoat until as sistance comes, so when they cry out they are not actually drowning. When it comes to giving up and going under they sink slowly, but without sound. 1
 ''The more I think of this phase oft the drowning question the more re- maTkable it seems. Boys have been l drowned here who would have been l rescued had they but called once. 1 They have gone under surrounded by 1 and so close to the life | guard that rescue would have been