The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-05-09
An EXPERT SWIMMER.
Tells How to Save a Person Who Is
Drowning.

Peter ). McNally, a Boston news
paper man and long distance swimmer,
gave an interesting exhibition yester-
day afternoon in the Produce Exchange
swimming pool Ii was partly to illus
trate for the harbor police an easy
method Of saving people from drown
ing.
Most people" he said. believe that
the eramp is the most dangerous foe of
the swimmer, But IL isn't. OF course,
cramp in the stomach would be dan
gerous, but IL Is rare. With an ordi-
nary cramp in the arm or leg many
swimmers get scared, and the scare is
1 responsible for their drowning.
But the majority Of people who can
swim who are drowned I'm summer
months at the seaside resorts are
drowned not because they are attacked
with cramps, but with hts Of apopleXy
and heart trouble. A man with any af-
lection Of the heart is liable to instant
death il he steps into cold water.
.One Of the greatest dangers to sea-
side batheTs. and one OF the things that
bring on apOplexy is the cooling-on
process. Many people undress and
then wait on the sand, saying they'll
not go in until they get cooled OF. II
/ they are really overheated they should
not go in the water, but if they are or
dinarily warm then il is all right. But
don't go in to battle unless your body
IS in a glow.
Now and then we hear that a
drowning person has thrown up both
( hands and then sunk. This can't be so.
Only an expert swimmer can throw up
both hands while in the water 1 mean
throw up his hands so that people near
can see his arms out Of the water
A drowning man may sink fifty
times and again come to the surface.
There is no such thing as the third
and last time. Children when drown
ing viii sometimes struggle in the wa
ter for twenty minutes Some people
who are not strong enough to strug-
gle just sink once, and that is the last
seen Of them alive, for IN that once
that they go down they have swallowed
suihcient water to strange them. A
person who browns is practically stran-
gled to death. Some people say that
death by drowning is an easy death.
and that the person drowning hears
sweet music and all that sort OF thing.
/ never heard of any one who was
strangled having an easy ending.
Now as TO the way to handle a per
son who is in danger of drowning We
a+~e~A INV many lAAN saver MoLh hN
punching the drowning person in the
face, but such a blow would not stun
struggling person, because the person
who strikes has nothing but the water
10 brace him for the blow. and where
there Is no resistance there can be no
force. A person who is struck in this
manner in the water Is drifting, and
there is no resistance to the blow
The best means to adopt in saving
the life Of a person drowning is TO get
behind him, press the thumbs under
his ears and duck his head until he
becomes manageable. 1 have saved the
lives Of sixty-five persons In this way"
After making his address Mr. Nc
Nally went into the swimming pool and
gave an Illustration Of fancy swimming
and points on life saving. A German
photographer got 20 work on him with
q camera and proceeded to take flash
light photographs OF him. Suddenly
McNally gave an awful howl in imita-
ton of a seals bark. The German
photographer dropped his fashlight and
the lamp exploded burning him Sc
verely. The harbor cops few and that
ended the show