The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-08-01

Following the long agitation by The
| Washington Herald that some means Of
protection be provided for the cancels Is
| who frequent the upper river. steps have
at last been taken which promise &c
materially reduce the list of accidents
| and drownings.
In defense of the canoeists. who resent
the Implication that they are unable to
take care of their tiny craft and are
careless in the handling of the same. !,
Is only fair to say that out of the thirty
four drowninSs on the Potomac between
July l. 1914, and July q. 1915, only two
have been canoeists and they were in the
same canoe and neither of them could
swim. In addition, they had only pur-
chased the boat the day before and under
such circumstances were exceedingly
careless to venture out upon the river.
Furthermore, these thirty-four drown
ings represent the los of life along the
entire water front of the District, in
Guiding the Eastern Branch and the water
all the way to Jones' Light.
Practically all of the canoe and boat
clubs OF Importance upon the river were
represented at the conference held in
Maj. Pullman's office last week and lis
tened to the very able address of VIII
bert E. Longfellow. representing the Red
Cross
Mr.. Longfellow gave demonstrations Of
how to handle a drowning man in the
water and told how to proceed to get him
out when he had gone down for the last
time. etc.
His suggestion. backed up by Maj. Pull
man, that volunteer life-saving corps
be established among the crack SWIM
mers on the river, met with instant APP
"A A,,o. ttv,~ will
be held at Maj. Pullmans Office to or
ganize.
Capt. Frank Chamberlain, of the Po-
tomac Boat Club. himself an excellent
swimmer and all-around athlete. is au-
thority for the statement that his club
has several men who are available for
such service while Commodore William A.
Rogers. of the Washington Canoe Club.
which boasts the best swimming talent
in this section, has expressed the opinion
that a number of the members of his
club would gladly Join such a corps
Among the well-known swimmers in the
Washington Canoe Club are Reginald
Rutherford. James Burch, Everett An
sley. R. o. Eliason. F. c. Bammon.
Irving Zirkel. D. A. DeLashmutt. F. c.
Craighead, Karl and II. T. knight, J.
A. HUFF. and H. F. Almon. Any of these
would make good at the job II they can
be induced to take up the work.
The problem of decrea sing the annual
toll OF lives lost on the water Is not
a local one. but is presented to every
city which is adjacent to a water front.
Mr.. Longfellow has just come from Pitts
burgh where he worked for six weeks
on the problem Of safeguarding life
on the Allegheny.
The Maryland Swimming Club, of Bal
timore. already has a life-saving corps,
with members on duty continuously on
Sunday and holidays and in the even
ings. Already they have been of ma
terial assistance in saving the lives OF
a score and have proven the value OF
such an organization on the river.
Pat DEMPSEY the well-known oars
man. has always advocated a life-sav- ,,
ing station of some sort on the Upper !
Potomac.
In referring to the subject recently he |
said: 1T is absolutely impossible to
prevent an occasional drowning no mat
Ter how many boats are out patrolling |
The river The most feasible scheme, |
L seems to me- would be to have a CEN
trail station equipped with graphing
hooks and a pulmotor, and other first
lid appliances. Then when someone Is
pulled out OF the water instead of hav-
ng to bring him all the way down the
liver to the hospital he could be taken to
his station and given immediate at
ention.
NO amount OF patrolling will prevent
ccidents You cannot keep people from
aking chances II they are foolhardy
,nough to risk their lives. Take u
ook back over the drownings Of the
,ast. In one case a man steps on a
aunch into the water at night and Is
in another two boys who cam
lot swim go out in canoe for the first
ime and it upsets: in another a man
,oes in bathing and chooses the most
dangerous spot in which to enjoy his
lunge. These things cannot be entire
Y prevented, but they can be mini
nized and. when a drowning does oc-
ur. If there is a place where graphing
ooks are readily accessible and a pull
motor can be obtained. the work of re-
ussitation can be successful in half OF
he cases"
There wer many incidents cropping up
II the time at the meeting of canoeists
t the District Building last week. Any
traight face throughout the session
;ould have deserved q medal.
After Mr.. Longfellow had delivered his
address the meeting was
iven over to the mob and the fun
tarted. First, Eugene Austin. repre-
enting the independent canoeists, took
whack at the clubs, after which there
ras a verbal sparring match between '
commodore Rogers. of the Washington
anoe Club. and Frank Chamberlain,
aptain OF the Potomac Boat Club, when !
9th rendered the use Of their respec- I
We clubs to Mr.. Longfellow for his 9
cture. This had just been settled with J
ut blows when our friend Bernard I
Jefferson threw a i2-centimeter shell into =
,e camp Of the motorboat owners by s
ivocating a law prohibiting q speed of I
ore than four miles an hour On the '
pper river. q
While Maj. Pullman was making notes y
a this. Frank Moor., Of Moore's boat y
ouse. and Odell Whipple, the man whn L
Ut the can in the original canoe. held a
private session In tina back Of the v
'om. shoe khands. swore softly and pre- "
,red 70 defend the Eotorboat owners. {
glowing the attack BY Dickerson. Mr.. a
nipple took the floor and delivered an n
d Patrick Henry address which was
lver great applause by Mr.. Moore.
ndy Hutterly, Of Analostan, then got Q
, and tried to have tugboats barred OF Z
le river and wanted to do away with {
yhts on canoes. Andy had the captain n
! the harbor polics boat. who was pres o
Il, stirred up for several minutes when
got the Federal and District laws !
visited. But then Andy 10 not a lawyer.
ID foi'owing his outburst few min |
es was allotted to Lieut.. Dean in /
i ee explained that tss preston
lights on canoes lies VITA the bureau
Navigation.