Los Angeles herald., 1906-09-17
IN FAINT
TOPPLES
OFF CLIFF
Drops Into Cataract
in Rubio Canyon
at a Picnic
Father Leaps Into Water
and Drags Out His
Little One
Child Ventures Up Slender Ladder
While Parents Attention Is At
tracted EIsewhere-Cut
on Head Is Only Mark

Little FREQ daSenauer, the three
and a half-year-old son of Henry Has
enauer, 307 Omar avenue, was playing
on the long flight of steps which leads
up the side of the cataract at Rubio
canyon yesterday afternoon.
Seeing a pretty pebble in the waters
below him he reached out his chubby
hand eagerly for the coveted object,
crying gleefully to his mother to see
the funny stone"
His mother looked up and as she
did so was Mortified to see her baby
drop to the foaming water that
churned furiously among the sharp
boulders. With a frantic wall the
mother lost consciousness, while the
crowd of picnickers looked on helpless
and terrified.
At every leap of the surging waters
it seemed the little one would be
dashed to death against the cruel
rocks, but a guiding current seemed
to carry the babe safely by boulder af-
ter boulder, until at last it reached a
small waterfall.
Splash and Scream
Here a startled gasp arose from the
crowd below, and women covered their
faces and cried Historically.
Then a splash, and the child's body
fell to the silent waters of a pool
twenty feet below.
Instantly the father leaped to the
rescue and seized his babe from the
waters.
Scarcely daring to look upon it's face
lest he beheld the whitened features
of a corpse, he placed it reverently
upon the ground by the stream.
Then, courageously, he bent over
and looked. The child was breathing!
1t lived!
With a shout of joy that reverber-
ated through the canyon the father
rushed to the tainted mother. She was
just beginning to look about with re-
turning consciousness.
Still Alive
The boy is here-alive, mother!" the
man cried. placing the rescued babe
by its-mother's side.
With the half sobbing hysterical
laugh of sudden joy, the woman looked
searchingly at the little fellows face,
eagerly feeling for the beating of his
heart. She felt the longed for throb-
bing in his breast and breathed a
thankful prayer as she pressed the
child closely to her bosom.
The boy was taken at once to the re-
ceiving hospital to have an ugly cash
on his head treated by the physicians.
When his mother and father stood by
him after the bruises had been ban
daged the little fellow looked up with
a smile and said: 81 got hurted in the
ugly water didn't -"
Pasadenans' Report
This is the version of the accident
given out through the Los Angeles po-
lice department.
Pasadena police, who also investi-
gated the accident, reported that whl5
picnicking in Rubio canyon this after
noon the 3-year-old child of Mr. and
Mrs. j. Swaren of Hope street, Los
Angeles, fell from a ladder hanging
over the edge of a cliff into a pool of
water about thirty-fVe feet below and
suffered a frightful cut at the base of
the brain.
The Swarens were members of
German picnic party, several kegs of
beer being taken along to liven up
things.
Neither of the parents watched the
little child and the first intimatlon
given that the little one had wandered
away came when a scream was heard.
The picnickers turned just in time to
see the baby strike the pool of water.
Assistance quickly reached the child
and the tot, unconscious from the blow
on it's head, was quickly taken to the
Rubio station of the Pacific Electric,
where its injuries were temporarily at
tended to.
Cut Bad Cash
A frightful cash about three inches
long was found on the back of the head,
and after stopping the flow of blood the
baby was hurried to Los Angeles for
medical treatment.
In Rubio canyon there are several
connecting flights of steps leading up
bove the waterfalls. At the very top
of the steps is a ladder hanging out
over the edge of the cliff. The 3-year-
old went up all these steps and out
upon the ladder by itself.
Had the child fallen from the end of
the ladder 1t would have dropped over
a hundred feet to certain death on the
rocks below, but. fortunately, the little
one did not get clear out to the end and
in falling struck a pool of water only
part way down.
The parents refused absolutely to
give their names or address, but some
OF those with them said that they are
Mr.. and Mrs. j. Swaren of Hope street,
Los --ngeles.