The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1911-04-20
ADVICE FOR SWIMMERS.
How to Approach and Save Drown
ing Person.

f1ow to approach and save Drown"
ing Person.
THE week end picnic and yachting
parties make plenty of work for us
during the vacation season." declared
Dennis Butler. patrolman of the Third
district in Philadelphia and ut one time
Che amateur champion swimmer Of
America. in telling several friends
about the long list of deaths that have
accompanied vacation periods during
the many years of service that he has
seen in the police department.
What puzzles me more than any
thing else is the number of drOwnings
that occur during the season." he con-
tiuued. Sometimes many Il brave fel-
low who goes to the rescue of
drowning pleasure seeker is caught in
the deadly clutch of Il drowning man
and accompanies him to a watery
grave.
Now, | have learned from eXpe
rience that to swim straight at a
drowning person and attempt to seize
him from the front means probable
disaster. He will clutch wildly at any
thing and hold on fast. He prevents
the swimmer from keeping his air, and
when that is eXhaled the jig is up.
Here is the way in which l have
saved many man The best way to
get at drowning man is to swim
around him and seize him beneath the
armpits from behind. Then you are
out Of the reach of his arms and can
hold him up aud tread water At
times one must use other means Of
rescue
Usually the person won't listen to
your advice to keep still and will wrig-
gle around and try to seize you by the
neck. The only thing to do in that
case Is to deal him blow on the
bridge of the nose and stun him. Then
the rest is easy. In his unconscious
state the person will naturally become
rigid. and all that you will have to do
is to keep him at1Oat and tow him
ashore There are hundreds Of ways
in which person can be rescued. the
principal rudiments of which are to
keep cool and always to keep out Of
the reach of his arms.
Another important feature In the
rescue work is that of getting rid OF
the water and restoring respiration
When the rescued party is on shore
the first thing to do is to stand him
on his head and hold his feet straight
up in the air. The water will gush
from his lungs, and when it stops flow
ing stand him on his feet with his
back toward you and by holding him
about the abdomen allow him to hang
imply over. BY pressing the abdomen
in and out the water which is in his
digestive organs will also be got rid of.
Another step is to lay him over
barrel or any other object face up
ward and his head lowered toward
the ground. Seize his hands and work
them with circular motion from the
head to the abdomen and back again.
In bringing the arms back toward the
head keep them wide open so that air
VIII DC lOiNCu iIlO lhC iuhSo' vi
course the work of restoration re-
quires anywhere from several min
utes to many hours, according to the
amount of water which has been taken
into the lungs.
But, like everything else, even a
novice can make an effort to prevent
himself from drowning. Wien a man
falls into the water who cannot swim
the easiest way to keep up is to have
the lungs well filed with air This, to-
gether with the hands extended palm
downward on a level with the breast
and few motions of the feet. will
keep him on top for about half hour,
and in this time he has many chances
of being rescued, Instead of doing
this, however, novice upon falling
into the water will raise his hands
over his head and attempt to call for
help. After he discharges the air from
his lungs Inc the vain shout the lungs
take in water, and then he naturally
sinks"