Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1909-06-18
Henry Cooper as q Swimmer.

cream SodaS 10 cents. stiff
Henry Cooper as q Swimmer.
Last Saturday afternoon Henry
Cooper, Jake Jennewein, Tom Col
Inns, II. II. Helgerson, Art Collins and
Melvin Juel went up the river and
began a fishing contest at the Three
Mile bridge. The boys got along
nicely and the fish loved bait better
than hooks, until four of the six went
up the river in quest Of more bait,
leaving Henry Cooper and Tom Col
Inns to keep the fish in good humor
until they returned. Cooper and Col
Inns are noted for their daring and ex-
pediency in such matters and deter
mined to catch all the fish before the
| bait hunters returned. Mr.. Cooper
stood on a steep bank ten or twelve
feet above the water n had a long
pole with several hooks on his line.
He didn't want to hold the pole so he
concluded to stick the butt end down
in the mud and keep the small end
and line within reach. He flung his
hooks out into the turbulent waters
and then leaned over the high bank
to jam the butt into the sand and
mud. Down went the pole and 1t
seemed fast enough but Henry gave
it another jab and it sunk so fast and
so easy that he went down head first
to see if the bottom had fallen out of
the river bed. Tom Collins was near
and yelled for help. Henry came up
from under ten feet Of water smiling
and told Tom to keep still or the boys
would find that he was a poor Usher
man, but Tom didn't want to see
Henry drown, and yelled again. This
made Henry nervous and he began to
swim like Captain Webb, but there
was no low bank anywhere and he
turned over on his back and tlOated
while he figured out a way to escape.
An overturned tree in the river fur
nished the swimmer with a breathing
spell, and then Collins appeared on
the top of the bank blowing hard and
working fast. He had found a corn
pillow lear the secene Of trouble and
with the strength Of a Simon Ulrik-
son dragged the pillow to the rescue.
Tom lowered the tongue of the pillow
into the river and Henry began to
climb but the water he carried in his
hip boots and in his clothes made the
pillow pole slippery and Henry's
weight and big boots dragged him
down every time he got up the pole a
bit. Tom grew desperate and want
ed to telephone to town for help but
, Henry said nay. The bait hunters
l we're still absent and in blissful ignor-
ance of the danger to their COM
l %panion. Tom left the pillow and
rushed to the camp tent where he
found a square backed camp chair
l and with tent ropes threw a life line
l to the man who found the tongue OF
a corn plOw too small to climb. The
life line and chair did the business.
l Henry got the chair and Tom used
Y himself as hitching post and then
Henry climbed and Tom pulled as he
never pulled before and the sturdy
fisherman Rugged that tongue as he
never Rugged anything before and
perhaps will never again, and the
united efforts of both landed Henry
safe, sound and smiling on the bank
after which he turned two or three
hundred pounds of water from his
| boots into the corntield and not until
then did Tom smile. 1t was a conf
cal situation but Henry was as cheer
full as the boys who returned with a
bushel OF bait. They wanted to know
if Tom had been fishing with the
: corn pillow tongue for a pole, but
c Henry relieved Toms confusion by
e admitting that a big fish had got or
y his line and he went down the tongue
to capture it alive. 1t was raining
hard at the time and the bait hun
tiers thought Henry must have dom
all the fishing while Tom smoked ii
the tent. Tom moved that all hand
ad journ and move homeward ant
Henry seconded the motion. Jak'
Jennewein said he had used all kind
q of poles in his time but he V uset
the tongue Of a corr pillow, and asked
q Tom to explain. Tom said he wa!
too hungry to talk, and Henry, to re
lieve Brother Helgerson's suspicion!
Is let the cat out of the bag and yol
< know how the LEADER got into TIN
secret.
-. Roy Smith came home from Ames
Iowa, last Friday, where he gradu
!, ated in that splendid institution
The Iowa A~uricnltural College RNl