The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1904-08-15

In our Judgment. the cspsizing G. the
launch Recreation. by which ten persons
were drowned, was unavoidable and was
accidental"
This was the verdict rendered today by
a Coroner's jury Of six men summoned
10 investigate the circumstances Of the
disaster which occurred last Saturds at
the foot OF Thirty-fifth Street. in GeorEe-
town, during the progress Of the regatta
on the Potomac River
The jury met at 10 o'clock at the Dis
trict morgue.
After the four survivors, Dr. Charles
w. Wagner. Or. Charles A. Stewart,
William Lederer. and ]. Allan Woulfe.
had made their statements and the tes-
timony Of three cyewitnesses. together
with that OF an expert who examined
the boat. hau been taken. the jury retired
for barely three minutes. and returned
with a written verdict the contents Of
which are EiTen above.
o. Much Interest.
The verdict has particular interest in
view OF the fact that il Chara aCterizes
the upsetting OF the boat and sae whole
sale drowning as not only accidental.
but una voidabIe." This relieves every
one on the beat from blame on the score
Of overcrowding the boat; careless
handling OF It. or disregard OF the rules
Of navigation on the river, on all Of
which points those affected b. the trag-
edy have not been slow in making ma
terial for criticism.
10 charter for the boat could be pro
duced at the inquest this morning. as
the launch is OF too small tonnage to
require the issuance Of n license. but
two OF the owners OF it, Dr. Q ".
Wagner and Dr. Charles ~ Stewart.
said that the launch had often held
more people than were in il Saturday
when the capsize occurred.
The capacity Of the boat they fixed
a between eighteen and twenty passen-
gers On Saturday il held fourteeen.
OF decidedly contrary nature was the
statement made by Milton Hoffen-
mayer. q young man who saw the scci-
dent from the top Of the CisseH Mil cul-
vert. and who said that the boat was
undoubtedly much overloaded.
Il was sitting on the culvert with four
Of the ladies who afterwards got in the
boat and were drowned, when the
launch. holding at that time ten men.
came I'd and passed us" he said. "One
of the young ladies called out "a greeting
a desire 10 get on board.
"I endeavored to discourage them from
doing so. rs the boat seemed to run al
ready far down in the water above what
IS known as the water edge
81 owned a boat Of that kind myself
and felt sure that its capacity should be
limNed 10 about eight or ten persons
Despite my warning four OF the
Ia r-NH q
point whore they boarded the boat
There was a fifth young lady on the
wharf with me- Miss Katie Conners. Of
Thirty-third and NJ Streets. Georgetown.
and she. I think. was dissuaded from
stepping aboard the boat at the time,
for she did not attempt f., and thus -
capped the accident.
Turned Boat Over.
Mr. Hof7enmayer. who lives at $40 y
Street northwestf is further testimony
before the cOroneT's jury gave the same
explanation as TO the cause Of the boats
upsetting as was give by all the sur
yivurs, namely. that at the splashing
of the water from the mill-race on one
side OF the boat, as il headed southwark
the ladies in the boat scrambled 70 one
side, thus disturbing the balance. and
that as a result Of the badly distributed
weight. the boat overturned( the rail
toward the short going under first
This left ali the occupants founder
ing I'm the water. and OF these. ten went
down without chance Of rescue.
ln response 10 a question from one
of the iurymen, the only one asked
the jury i'm the whole Iu..stieation Nj.
HOffenmayer made the statement that
from his own familiarity with boats of
this character the Recreation had much
too many passengers on board
4nSetung this statement were the