The Lake County times., 1908-06-23
BODY OF DROWNED
MAN IS RECOVERED
St. John and Schererville Wrapped In
Gloom Today Over the Terrible
Occurrence Which Took Place Last
Night in a Shallow Pond on the
Old Koerner Farm.
SEASONS DRowNIses IN REGION, q.

st. John. Ind. June Especial -
The monster of the waters. unrelenting
and merciless. last night came to Alois
Steuer. IS years old, of Schererville.
and emphasized his recklessness by
taking away the young man on the
eve OF his sist>r Elizabeths wedding
day
All is gloom in the sterer home to-
day.
In one chamber lies the cold form
of the young man who will be remerfa-
bered only for the promising future
that he had and the fine character he
displayed. while in the otas-, untouch-
ed and awaiting the festaI day, lies
the trousseau of the BRIDE, reminder
OF the day that should have been the
happiest in her life. but which IN
doebtediy wfil bc her saddest
Was Drovned Last Night.
The accident to young Steuer hap
pened last night about o'clock on the
old Koerner farm, which has been
bought by the c., I. & S. Railroad com
pany. The building of the railroad
created big pond on the farm, and to
this place Alois Steue-, his prospective
brother-in-law, William HiIbrfch. and
Nicholas Koerner, who former8z lived
on the farm, repaired for swim.
tempted by the hot weather. The trio
had been schoolmates and were brought
up in the very neighborhood where the
accident occurred. Hilbrich and Koer-
ner having been nefghbors and Steuer
having l'N ed only two miles away.
The three young men, thinking of the
wedding day of today in which one
was to be the groom, the other the best
man and the third, Nicholas Koerner. a
guest. were having a rolIicking good
time III the water. They had come TO
the shore after a last plunge and sat
on planks to wash their feet prepare
tory to donning their clothes, when
Steuer, without word of warning,
pitched headlong into the water. The
water there is about eight or ten feet
deep and none Of the three were ex-
pert swimmers. Hilbrich, having no
ticed that Steuer had been overcome
with the heat or with cramps, jumped
into the water to rescue him.
Nearly Cost His Own Life.
His heroic attempt almost cost him
the water, which was too deep for
him, and Koerner, being the best SWIM
mer Of the three, without hesitation,
jumped into the water to lend his aid
Reaching Hilbrich, he had all he could
do to bring him to land Then going
back into the water again he tried to
find Steuer. who had gone down to the
bottom and remained there. Try as
he might his attempts were unsuccess-
full. Several minutes had already pass
ed and seeing that they were unsuc-
cessful they ran to the road and the
nearest farm houses, from where they
summoned help.
Calls were made to ST. John and
Schererville over the telephone and
help summoned. Horses were hitched
TO wagons and dashed to the Koerner
farm August Koehle, proprietor Of
Spring Hill grove. being notified and
realizing the necessity of a boat, load
ed his canoe on a wagon and drove to
the farm. Drs. Houk of Crown Point
and Chevigny of Dyer had been sum-
moned by telephone and were on the
scene before the body was recovered.
Big Crowd Gathers.
An immense crowd OF men, women
and children had In the meantime gath
cred around the brink of the pond, the
water of which was cloudy and dis
turbed by the long poles that had been
used in trying to locate the body.
Nicholas Koerner. almost exhausted by
the terrible strain under which he had
been for three long hours, worked un-
ceasfngly. Hundreds of eyes watched
him as he went down into the water
and returned each time without the
body of his friend. He was about to
give up to let stronger hands continue
the work when he decided to go down
once more. He had searched the deem
water repeatedly and this time decided
to go into the shallow--water There.
In two feet of water, he almost STUN