Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1907-03-18
LINCOLN wATRous or THIS
CITY MEETS DEATH IN IcT
WATERS ON DUCK HUNT.
SWAN FIFTY YARDS
Five Hours Before Body is Reeos.
erec-1oat capslxes ~ Ne Dis
charges His Gun

Lincoln Wairous. son Of Mr. and
Mrs, Joseph wauous Of this city
was drowned yesterday morning al
about seven O'Clock In kroenig lake.
he was out on the water alone In a
small boat. and stories as To how
the accident occurred vary widely.
- there were no eyewitness. u
u known that he was sitting On the
edge of the small skin a second or
~ before and that he fired his gun
and 1t is quite probable that he lost
hla balance at the recoil and fell
over backwards.
AS soon a. he was thrown into
the wafer the young man struck ou,
tor the shOre and swan over hat
way III before he sank. The body
went down at once and never cana
up. 1t In the general opinion that
the young man was seized with
cramps on account Of the deadly
eoldness Of the water.
Mr. Watrous was accompanied III
tho lake ON the duck hunt by VIII
X. Jones and Michael pickens. The
former was on another lake at the
time and did not see the accident,
and pickens was ON the other side
of the body OF water on which the
unfortunate young man was hunt
ing when he fell overheard. He saw
Natrpus In the water and saw swim
towards the shore and also saw him
10 down. but did not know 1t ut the
lime He thought he had reached
'the shallow water ana was standfng
up. but was probably unable to wade
on account OF the weeds and hur-
ried to assist him. He called to him
several times, but did not get an
answer When he was near enough
to see, he found that 1t was only
the boys hat floating on the sur
face.
Word was sent In to Mr.. Charles
#. O'Malley Of this city, of the ac-
cident. and as soon as possible he
left with team for the lake, which
is fourteen miles from town. When
he reached the scene. the body had
Just been recovered.
1t was exactly ten minutes to sew
en- o'clock when the young man was
drowned, and he remained in the
water until twelve minutes TN
twelve O'Clock when the body was
recovered by means Of drag net
The position of his arms and legs
showed plainly that the unfortunate
boy had been seized with cramps
before his death. The remains
were brought to this city and taken
to the VIM. Lewis undertaking pa
lors.
Mr. Watrous had on his heavy
underwear. two pairs of trousers.
two heavy shirts, a double breasted
coat, buttoned up tight. a pair OF
boots. long gauntlet gloves and a
belt filled with shot gun shells
when he was drowned. 1t is almost
marvellous that he succeeded in
swimming at all with such an equip
ment. It was madness for him to
attemnt to swim ashore instead Jf
clinging to the boat until he could
be rescued, under such conditions.
Even had the water been warm the
chances were greatly against him.
Deceased wa sa brother'in-law or
ID. C. Condor. a well known business
man of the city, and was popular,
industrious young man. and unmar-
ried, For the past three years he
had been employed by the Las Vegas
Telephone company as an inside
wire man. He was exceptionally
quiet, and Manager O'Malley says
that he never had better young
man in his service.
Mr.. Watrous had attended the
dance at Rosenthal hall on Saturday
night, which lasted until almost ]
o'clock in the morning. He then went
home and changed his clothes and
made an early start with his com
panions for the lakes on duck hunt
Until a few weeks ago he carried