New-York tribune., 1916-07-13
Shark Makes Double
Kill in Creek at
Matawan, N. J.
REPORT GIVES
FOURTH VICTIM
Fishermen with Dynamite
and Spears Search
Jersey Stream. I

Two boys swimming in Matawan
Creek yesterday, more than q mile
from where it empties into Raritan
Bay, were attacked by shark. Ore
is dead; the other, if he lives, will
have but one leg. A man diving to
recover the boys body had most of
one leg torn off by the shark, and
died after reaching shore. There was
report in Matawan that a man
named Baldwin was attacked and
killed by the shark at Keyport at the
mouth of the creek.
Lester Stillwel was the first VIC
tim. He was twelve years old, the
son of Filliam Stillwell, of Matawan.
His body has not been recovered.
Joseph Dunn, fourteen years old, Of
124 East 128th Street, was the Sec
ond to be attacked. He is in st.
, Peters Hospital, New Brunswick,
and may live. w. Stanley Fisher,
twenty-five years old, of Matawan,
with Stillwell's body in his arms,
fought the shark for several minutes,
succeeded in reaching shore alone,
and died from his injuries.
Fish Patrols Near City.
Assuming that one roaming man.
eater is responsible for the deaths
of the last ten days, the shark has
patrolled the coast on both sides of
New York, travelling at least sew
enty-five miles from one end of his
beat to the other. He was first
heard of near Spring Lake. Within
a day or two the death of Charles
Bruder, few miles north of Spring
Lake, showed his progress. Next
he was at Bridgehampton, Long
Island, a good seventy-five miles in
coasting line from Spring Lake.
His APPEARANCE at Matawan
would tend to show that he had
skirted all of the Lower Bay and
at some time within a day or two
must have been off Coney Island
and the Rockaways. He was as
near them as he was TO Raritan
Creek when he swan into the Lower
Bay.
Lurking Place for Man Eater.
Matawan Creek at Matawan Is a
sluggish tidewater stream that
meanders through the lowlands. II
is about fifty feet wide and from
eight to fifteen feet deep.
At Wyckoff's dock, a pier which
juts out into the creek some twenty
feet, the stream bends sharply. It is
wide at the bend, and Wyckoff's dock
is the village swimming hole. 1t is
about one hundred yards from the
street.
Yesterday afternoon William Hyer, Al
bert O'Hara, Charles Van Brunt, Andrew
Bublin. Henry Schencke and Lester
Stillwell, none Of them more than four
teen years old, went down to Wyckoff'.
dock. Lester had spent all the morning
working for a basketmaker. He had
earned rs cents, and on the way to
the dock he bought a bathing suit on
which he had long had his eye.
Shouting. leaping and splashing. the
crowd kept the swimming hole in an
uproar for half an hour.
Boy Victims Last Dive.
"Come on. fellows!" shouted Lester,
posing at the end OF the pier, lone
dive apiece and we'll go home"
Waiting until his companions had
leaped, Lester gave a spring and dis.
appeared.
Just as the splash behind him told
Of Lester's dive William Hyer. who
was almost within reach of the green.
| filmed ladder that gives access to the
pier from the water, felt a sharp blow
upon his left leg. He glanced down
and kicked himself through the last
few feet Of water in a frenzy oi
fright.
Down in the murky depths that wer<
shot with bubbles from his own exer
tions he had glimpsed a huge FISH
Just for moment ne saw il, but he re
tanned an impression Of clean-cu
lines and cleaning teeth.
\ Thankfully he clambered up the lad