The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1908-06-30
BROWNS: WIT5I. t. WIFI
HER leap TO RESCUE SINKING
CAPTAIN ENDS IN TRAGEDY.
Drowning Occurred in Sight Of Hun
dreds VINO Were Powerless to Pre-
vent It..

vent 1t.
Locked, in each others arms, in
plain views of hundreds on shore
and upon the awning decks Of an
chored yachts, Captain Otto Aubert
and his wife were drowned Wednes-
day nightoff the foot of East Twenty
ninth street,; New Y OF orizi-tu IN tue slip
known as "The Drowners."
Five thousand spectators watched
the electric lights of thepolice launch
and thirty of the yachts as they drag
ged for. the bodies. They were
found finally not more than fifty
feet from the barge Edgewood.
which Captain Aubert commanded.
Fully fifty persons have been
drowned Off the Dumps, as that
part of the river front is called, in
the "drowners' slip in the last
twenty years. No tragedy has caus-
ed the sorrow of this sad happening.
The spectators murmured in sympa-
thy when the bodies, still firmly held
in last embrace, were brought to
the surface.
ItS:was to save the life of her help
mate that Mrs. Aubert sacrificed her
own. He had fallen overheard and
she leaped in after him.
For more than thirty years they
had navigated the rivers and Sound
when their boat, the Edgewood, lad
en- to her deck-beams with grain in
bulk, reached the moorings at the
foot of East Twenty-ninth street.
The grain was partially discharged
when Mrs. Aubert rang the supper
bell at p. m.
After supper the grizzled captain
once Norwegian soldier, whose
universal good nature had gained
for him the sobriquet of Happy
Otto" lighted his corncob pipe and
tuned his banjo. He was an expert
on this instrument, and for an hour
he entertained his wife.
Finally he sang his wife's favorlte
song: "When are you coming home
my dear"
The stuffy little cabin had grown
more stuffy, and the Captain sug-
gested that they get little air on
deck. He preceded her to the rail
and leaned upon it. 1t gave way
with his weight just as his wife
reached his side. Before he could
make a motion to save her she was
overheard.
"Hannah, oh, Hannah!" he cried
as the current bore him away.
Mrs. Aubert ran to the rall ana
plunged in.
Daniel Sheehan and John Dunn
stood on the bulkhead, after trying
to get boat they jumped overheard
in their clothing and swan to where
the old captain was struggling TO
unlock the arms of his wife. But
the woman, who was half strangled,
only clung the tighter, and Sheehan
and Dunn had to keep clear OF
themselves go down.
They saw the couple sink together
and then rise again. The captain
weaker than before, tried again tc
loosen his wife's hold, but in vain
Finally. with despairing cry he
threw his own arms about his VIE
and they went down for the last
time.
Nearly. sixty yachts were anchored
in the East River north and soutf
OF Twenty-ninth street. Every one
of them had sent their tenders "hel
tbev heard that u couple "er'
drowning. The launches with elec
tric lights on board aided the polic'
launch in the search for the Dodle
later while throngs covered 'n'
shore line and watched untli IN
crapplers of the police boat broush
up the bodies.
The captain and his wife Will D
| ,,,;o5 In ono grave