The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1904-07-07
VIEWS OF The LIFE SAVER.
IT ISN'T HARD OR DANGEROUS
WHEN YOU'RE USED TO 1T.

life saving is not near so dangerous
as it is generally supposed to be- said
Captain Tom Riley, the Coney Island
life saver. Like many other things, it
has been dwelt upon and exaggerated
by the inexperienced until nowadays
very few really understand just what
measures should be taken to rescue a
person from drowning. OF course, l re-
fer to people in general, not professional
lie savers. even though some of them
could pay more attention to their BUSH
ness with better results
Captain Riley has been a professional
life saver at Coney for the past twenty
years, and he is credited with having
saved the lives of hundreds of bathers.
In the first place." he continued,
terrifying accounts appear in the
newspapers from time to time of the
desperate efforts that certain people
have made in their attempt to rescue
some one from drowning. Descriptions
he has heard or read of the terrible
battle in the water between the drown
ing person and the rescuer so work up
on the mind Of the average bather that
when he is confronted with an opportu-
nifty to give a little help to a person
who has become nervous or whose
strength has given out he is so afraid
Of getting in the awful clutch of the
tired bather that he is afraid to go near
him.
II have often seen a man in trouble
in the water calling for help and sur
rounded by a ring of bathers. all afraid
to go to his aid simply because of the
popular superstition that when a drown
| ing person once gets hold on you it is
impossible to get rid of him. and you
will both go down tAgether.
zone day last year, as / was swim
ming out toward the raft. three men
who We're standing on it yelled to me,
at the same time pointing to a man in
the water about thirty feet from them:
Get him; he's drowning
| IT thought at first they were joking.
But when 1 saw the mans face it was
plain that he was in trouble. He had
given UP trying to swim. He was scared
badly and was blubbering like big
schoolboy. And he was. nearly under
| the water.
81 went over to him, took him by the
hand, and without the least trouble
towed him to the float, where stood his
three friends. He was just about to go
down, yet he didn't make ihe slightest
attempt to catch hold of me.
Now, those three big friends of his
could have taken him out Of the water
i x.yf+Ia 80 rr,so fne ne .4s yof
many others, they were filled with these
terrible stories of drownings and could
MT muster up enough nerve to do it, al
though dare say they had as much
courage as the usual run of men, at
that.
I'm all the rescues have made have
yet to come in contact with bather
who got a half Nelson on me that rem
| dered me unable to protect myself. As
rule most people who get in trouble
1 in the water are those who have be-
/ come scared. There may not be sim
gle thing the matter with them, not
even little cramp They simply lose
their nerve, give up, and start to sink.
Sometimes they go down without MAX
ing an outcry, but my theory in regard
to these is that they are stricken with
heart failure.
when you reach man who is just
scared he Is only too glad to have you
give him aid, and is so grateful that he
/ will be as meek as a lamb and will do
i anything you tell him. His confidence
is restored the moment you take hold
| Of him. Why, have gone to fellows
who were making the greatest cries for
help, and as soon as they saw me on
1 hand they would turn around and swim
ashore saying that there was nothing
l the matter with them and that they
were just fooling.
when d man gets little water in
] him, even, 1t is one of the easiest things
i in the world for person who has some
knowledge of swimming to take him
ashore.
i Most Of the people who get into
trouble here are those who go too near
the pier. It is a curious thing that all
of them are afraid of the pier. There
is something uninviting and terror in
Spring about the black shadow cast by
l a pier that seems to take the nerve of
all bathers. I know Of some expert
Iswimmers who are finicky about pass
ing under one.
IF you will remember, 1t is near one
of the big piers at Atlantic City that
most Of the bathers are lost each year.
The tide there sets down parallel with
the beach, and is so strong that the
| average swimmer can't make Roadway
lagainst it, As soon as they find them
selves carried under the pier they be-
come scared and make desperate efforts
to get away from it. OF course they
don't gain an inch, and finally become
exhausted and sink. Whereas, by turn
ing the other way and allowing them
selves to be carried under the pier with
the tide they would soon have been able
to swim to a place Of sofety further
i down the beach.
zone of the most curious experiences
have had since have been life saw
er was some years ago when a young
woman, a newspaper writer, came
down here and told me she wanted to
experience the sensation of drowning
so that she could describe it in her pa
Iper. thought at first she was joking,
but she assured me she wasn't. I con-
sented to give her an opportunity of
getting this sensation. She went out on
the pier and I followed in a boat, ac-