The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1914-08-07
SAD CASE OF DROWNING
The OkanOgan River Claimed Victim
Sunday Afternoon

A very sad case of drowning occurr-
lie bath houses Sunday afternoon.
John McGinty, a well-known and very
popular young man, aged about %
years, was the victim. At the time of
the accident many were in the water
at the bath houses, but none near
enough to McGinty to lend him aid in
his extremity. McGinty and Geo. Will
son had swan across the river, and
had started down stream from the is
land, which is some 200 yards above
the bath houses. Neither of the men
could swim very well, indeed McGinty
has learned within the past few weeks,
and it is said had piece of board
when he started out to sustain himself
with while in the water. Wilson left
McGinty some distance behind Sud-
denly the bathers were startled by
loud scream for help, and McGinty was
Most of the bathers were demoralized
with fright, but Donald Fitzgerald and
Cecil Gardiner, both strong and ex-
pert swimmers, started swimming to-
ward the spot where McGinty was last
seen. They were over 100 yards away,
and it was difficult to locate the place
where the drowning man had gone
down. They commenced diving and
searching for the body. At that point
in the river the water is some IS feet
deep, and there is a dense growth of
aquatic weeds, that made it very diff
ficult to reach the bottom and move
about in the water at depth. Much
time was lost owing to the difficulty
of the search, and the divers worked
backward and forward over consid-
cradle aera before the remains were
located. At last Mr.. Fitzgerald found
the body, the legs being so entangled
in the weeds that he had much diff
ficulty in tearing the body loose and
reaching the surface, a task that could
only have been accomplished by
very strong man and an expert SWIM
mer. BY that time AL. Fox had appear
ed on the scene with his launch, and
the body was taken into the boat and
to shore, only few feet away Both
Drs. Elmer and Lewis were summoned
from the ball grounds and they re-
sorted to every means known to the
Profession for the restoration of res
piration but not the faintest signs
of life were to be observed. Efforts
at resuscitation were continued for a
long time, but without avail. No wa
ter was discharged from the body, and
it was the opinion of both physicians
that death was due to heart failure.
The remains were taken to Barnes
undertaking parlors to be prepared for
interment, and the sad intelligence of
the tragedy conveyed to the family.
The funeral took place from the Cath
olic church Monday afternoon, Father
Edward Greva officiating, and many
followed the remains to the Odd Eel
lows cemetery. The deceased was the
eldest son of Mr.. and Mrs. j. A. Nc
Ginty, old and highly respected resi-
dents of this part of the county, living
in the valley a few miles south of
Oroville. Young McGinty was over
six feet in heighth, and handsome
type of physical manhood. 1t would
seem that so powerful a man could not
drown SO near the shore as he was at
the time he met with his death, but as
stated above he was an inexperienced
swimmer, he may have been taken
with cramps, or become entangled in
the weeds mentioned He was young
man of exceptionally high moral char
acter, quiet steady and Industrious,
and general favorite among those
who knew him. His sudden and tragic
death was a terrible shock to the fam
lily and is deeply and sincerely deplor-
cd by the entire community.