The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1906-08-30
VETERAN SWIMMER
SUFFERS DEFEAT

Judge Henderson, who engaged In {
swimming contest with j. j. Byrnei
In the willamette river Saturday, re
turned to his home In the evening o.
that day none the worse for his effort
and with no excuses to offer. Tht
many friends OF the Judge took very
lively interest In the contest and o.
course wanted to see him win. A
good many Of them had advised
against his entering the race owing tt
the loEg spell Of sickness from whicl
he had but recently recovered, think
ing 1t would prove too much OF al
effort for the game old veteran. Somt
of them think that had the course
been longer one he might have farce
better In the contest, but the Judge
had no comment to make on thil
point. When asked by the Glacier
man why he was defeated he said
III failed to win because the Other
man was the fastest swimmer. / did
not think that Byrnes could keep NJ
the pace he set, but he did and wher
turned the last point In the riVei
and asw how far ahead he was | knew
that It would be useless for me to at
tempt to overtake him and left the
water opposite the Country Clut
house near Milwaukee. Byrnes is Q
fine swimmer. | do not, however,
fancy swimming in the Willamette
river at least the part of the course
covered. The water is too foul. In
many places IL was covered with a
scum Of oil and decayed fish | had
severa encounters with these disagree
able features and the experience was
anything but pleasant | can assure
you. In fact feared that my stom-
ach would reovlt entirely as several
times | was almost nauseated. "
The following account is taken from
the Oregonian;
John l.. Henderson, the Hood Riv-
or veteran swimmer, was most decis-
lively beaten yesterday by }. j.,
Byrnes, an instructor In swimming at
The Oaks. Byrnes finished the long,
gruelling swim after being hours,
4kminutes In the water. Mr.. Hen
derson, after swimming gallant con
test for about four miles, gave up the
race near Milwaukee. At this time
ByInes was mile In the lead and the
veteran swimmer, realizing that there
would be no chance to overtake his
younger opponent, left the water near
Milwaukee and returned to the city
by the Car line.
Aside from the two swimmers who
we're to measure strokes with each
other over the nine-mile course, a
number OF local swimmers were at the
starting point and took the water
when the main contestants started.
They we're. Professor Keisner, in
struo or at The Oaks; Professor
Myers, swimming instructor at the at
the Y. M. q. A., and Ben Holladay
These swimmers, however, did not
swim the entire distance, for after
about four miles they took to the
boats which we're following the con
testants. Professor Keisner finished
the last palt of the journey with
ByTnes.
The swimmers entered the water at
Oregon City at 8 o'clock, and the win
ner orawled up the iron ladder at The
Oakslat 2'041S. About 100 yards from
the finish, Byrnes, just to show the
crowd of spectators that he was still
SHINING strong, turned over on his
back and spurted away fom Professor
Keisner very easily. Bynres was as
sisted from the water by attendants
of the swimming baths and was taken
charge of by Allen IT. Aderson, who
has trained and instructed the young
swimmer In all Of his swimming feats.
Afer q rundown, ByrDes dressed him
self aud was soon mingling with his
many friends, who congratulated him
upon hls success. Byrnes took his
victory with becoming modesty and
expressed bis regrets that Mr., Hen
derson had withdrawn from the race.
In speaking of the race Mr.. Byrnes
said:
Henderson is game swimmer all
right, and | am SORRY that we could
not have finished together, so as to
have given the match the semblance
Of race. | understand that | was
about mile In front when he decid-
ed to quit. This must ,have been dl-
Iectly off Milwaukee, which, by the
way, was the worst part of the long
swim. There must be a lot of springs
In the river at this point, for it was
there that suffered for the first time
from the cold. 1t was so cold that for
q time | was fearful of crRmping.
However, after swimming for dis
tanoe, | got out Of the cold water aud
was all right again II was long
swim, but there never was time that
| was In trouble. | think If had