New-York tribune., 1908-01-06
THIN ICE A DEATHTRAP.
THREE DROWN IN POND.
Brothers and Would-be Rcscuer
Break Through in Jamaica.

v.-,,,;.,,, ss+ecbar ir sixteen years old, and his
brother Francis, nineteen, and Joseph 1eirceS'
twenty who attempted to rescue them "heh
they broke through the ice on Redder foho'
jamaica we're drowned yesterday afternoon.
The bodies of the two boys were recovered by
the police after graphing for several hours-
Young Tercey's body was not recovered until .
o'clock at night the police working by the light
of bonfires the shore
Because of the extreme cold 1t was necessary
for the policemen to work in relays ana the
only boat on the pond leaked badly and had 10
be pulled ashore and emptied frequently The
parents of the drowned boys are under the care
of the family physician, both of them having be-
come hysterical from grief when the bodies were
brought TO the surface
Both boys received new skates for Christmas,
and were anxious to them the first op-
portunity Yesterday afternoon they went to
Redder's Pond, in Black Stump Road, near Hill
side avenue. The ice at the shore was about
two inches thick, but it hardly more than
half an inch thick in the middle of the pond,
which covers four acres.
When about fifty yards from the shore Will
lam Stecher broke through the ice His brother.
without waiting to get board fence rail,
crept out the ice. and nearing Will
lam when the ice broke beneath his weight
and he sank into the water, which is than
fourteen feet deep. Joseph Teircey who
passing on the road, stripped off his coat and
started to wrtggle his way out the ice in the
direction of the boys, when the brittle ice crust
gave way beneath his weight, too.
small boy who skating on the edge of
the pond went to the home of County Judge Burt
Jay Humphrey, which IS near by, and with the
assistance of the watchman brought ladder TO
the pond. None of the victims to the sur
face, and the watchmau sent word to the police
of the Jamaica station.
Sergeant Martin and Patrolmen Hennessey
and Pagan sent to the pond on the run.
They improvsed graphing hooks from material
being used on the reconstruction of the Hum
phrey property. Lieutenant Oucter1oney, of the
Jamaica station, ordered the reserves to the
scene and telephoned to Hook and Ladder Com
pany II. which rushed to the pond.
The policemen and f1remen We're forced to use
old scow which shore near the pond,
and after few minutes it went to the bottom
almost taking two firemen and policeman with
it. A boat which was frozen in on the opposite
side Of the lake was chopped out and although
1t leaked badly If enabled the men to recover
the bodies of the two brothers.
When darkness overlook them the searchers
lighted huge bonfres along the shore and con-
tinued the work, the iaring lights and srotesoue
shadows making it ghastly. All Of
the reserves and detail of firemen were kept
on duty. They We're forced to work in relays
warming themselves between times. The pond
is on the top of one of the range of hills known
as the backbone of Long Island and the high
winds caused much suffering
William Reiss, fireman attached to Hook and
Ladder Company AZ, brought Teircey's body to
the surface 1t was taken to the Jamaica po-
lice station, where it was identified later by Jo-
seph Smyth, of Jamaica. Teircey was clerk,
and lived with his parents, Chichester and
Oak streets, Richmond Hill.
DR.. Crawford OF St Marys Hospital, who
was called when the two bodies were recovered
said that the chill of the water must have killed
the boys instantly. The bodies were taken to
the Jamaica police station and later to an 1ln-
dertaker's establishment
Mr.. Stecher is an officer in the Queens County
Trust Company and is well known on Long
Island The two boys were his only children