Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1908-04-16
SEARCHERS IN LAUNCH FIND
OVERTURNED CANOE OFF
GOVERNORS ISLAND,
MRS. WATKINS, BOYS MOTHER.
DISTRACTED BY TRAGEDY
REACHES MADISON,
PARTIES WILL DRAG THE LAKE
IN FoRLoRN HOPES OF
FINDING BODIES.

IALhouSn searching parties WORKED
all night and practically the whole
day in an effort to locate the bodie.
of John o. Watkins and George X
Hamilton, the two university student.
who have been missing since 3:3(
o'clock Monday afternoon and who
have been given up as lost, no traces
OF them have been discovered. Yes
terday morning a paddle was found
in the bay off Governors island and
at II o'clock the overturned canoe
was found just off the island. Sever
al OF the members of Sigma Alpha
| Epsilon, the fraternity to which the
two young men belonged, will go out
this morning with a drag net and
make final effort to locate the bod.
les but as no one has any definite
ideas as to the whereabouts of the
accident, the chances of finding the
bodies are but slight.
The accident is one of the most
heart-rending of any of those charged
up against Lake Mendoza, Although
here but short time, both young
men had made a host of friends who
were shocked upon hearing the
news. Hopes that they were still
alive were entertained until early
yesterday morning when the search
ers, who had been out since o'clock
in the evening, returned home firm
in the conviction that the unfortu-
nate young men had been drowned.
The entire university is cast in sor-
row over the tragic affair and the
fraternity brothers of the deceased
were overwhelmed with messages of
sympathy and offers of assistance.
Mrs. Watkins, the mother of the boy,
and her other son, Rob, a student at
Lake Forest academy, arrived at 1885
last night; while Mr.. Hamilton
reached Madison at 4 o'clock this
morning.
Never before has any drowning i'll
such deep mystery. No calls
for help were heard, no idea where
the accident took place is had
just how it happened will remain a
mystery forever. Both the young
men were excellent canoeists. Ham.
ilton owned a canoe himself at his
home at Berlin and used it every
summer at his home on the Fox riv,
er. Watkins has camped on the
Eagle river for several summers and
became expert in the use of the boat
there. Both of them could swim a
little but if they were capsized of
Picnic Point they had no chance I'm,
| less it was that of making themselves
| heard. With the water as cold as il
| is at the present time, it is question
able whether anyone could hold or
to the boat for longer than ten min
utes When the canoe was found BY
the party in the coaching launch, il
was overturned and the bottom bors
young men had sold their lives dear
| ly. Realizing that they were unable
| to swim in the icy water, they prob
ably tried to get on top of the canoe
but numbed by the water, were I'm
able to get any hold upon it, and fel
off into the water.
| The two boys left the fraternity
house, 615 Lake street, shortly after
o'clock Monday afternoon. They
took the canoe belonging to Forstel
Smith and that was the last seen d
| them. 1t was reported that canoe
| carrying two was seen in the after
noon pulling across the lake from
the boathouse but it is not at all Ger
| tain that it was theirs. When they
failed to return in time for dinner
and for chapter meeting, the mem
| bers became anxious about them
Places around the lake were called
| up by the phone but no one had
| heard or seen anything of them. Their
| searching parties were organized
part of these staying out until early
| in the morning and the others remain
! ing out until day break In the
morning, many searchers went out
| and Commodore Hayes and Engineer
Steenrod of the launch Cardinal
| joined the searchers. They patrolled
the whole lake but nothing was found
except the paddle and the over
turned canoe.
While it is thought that the bodies
must be somewhere between Picnic
Point and Governors island, this is
mere speculation. Another thing
that is unknown is the time that the
accident took place. Watkins MOI
er is a widow residing at 214 Maso-
street, Milwaukee. He graduated
| from Lake Forest academy last
spring. Hamilton's father lives at
Berlin and he is a travelling salesman
| for the Russell Glove company.
Provided the searchers this morn
| ing are unable to locate the bodies
with the grapples, it will probably De
two weeks before they come to the
surface Both were 20 years of age
and were freshmen in the college OF
letters and science. It Is said that
this is the first canoeing accident
that has ever taken place on Lake
Mendoza.