New Britain herald., 1916-07-03
PLaillville News ':,s < SINKS IN RIVER AS HE.SW|MS FOR HAT
 H4 l. Charles (. Johnson Victim Of
 Drowning Accident BODY MISSING MANY HOURS
Unfortunate Young Man Was on Fish ing Trip-Thought to Have Been Seized With cran'ps-Lifeless Body Fished out of Stream Yesterday.

! After a search which extende1 1 through the night, the body of Charits l G. Johnson of West Main street, who was drowned in the Connecticut river 1 about two miles below Middle Had- dam early Saturday evening after swimming from a motor boat in an attempt to recover his hat was re- covered about 9 o'clock yesterday morning. His life1ess form was located under a log at the bed of the river about fifty feet from the spot where he sank.
 Undertaken W. A. Bailey brought tn eremains to Platnvil1e yesterday af- ternoon after the coroner had pro- nounced death due to accidental drowning. The funeral will be held tomorrow afternoon at 2 o'clock from bis home. Services will be conducted at the house and burial will be in West cemetery.
 MT. Johnson left here Saturday on a fishing trip. He was accompanied by 8 number Of friends The party went down the river in q motor launch. A considera ble distance below Middle Haddam, MT. Johnson, or Gus, as he was popularly known to his friends, lost his smoking pipe. He dove into the river after it and when it was recovered came back to the boat His hat was blown off as he climbed into the craft and he returned tc the stream. Without single out cry he sank and did not again come tc. the surface.
 Gus" was a strong swimmer and for a few moments his friends were not worried about him, believing that he had dived voluntarily. They
 
 search for him. Failing to locate his body they spread the alarm and the bed of the river was dragged with hooks without success
 The search was kept up during the night but it was not until Sunday that the body was found. It had been carried down the stream by the swift current and eventually became wadged beneath @ log. MT. Johnson was thoroughly at home In the water and his friends believe that he was stricken With cramps which rendered him inca pablo of saving himself.
 The unfortunate young man was well and favorably known in Plain vile where he had made his home for many years. He was about thirty six years of age and was a master mason by trade. He was veteran of the Span1Sh--An er1Can war. His widow, who before her marriage was Miss Hattie Hanson, and three young children survive him.
 His wife is prostrated by grief over his sad end. His passing is mourned by a large number of friends, both in Plainville and vicinity
 Talk for Prohibition.
 Rev. Walter E. Lanphear, secretary of the Connecticut Temperance Union, made an earnest appeal for national prohibition last evening at the Con- gregational church. The address was delivered in connection with a union temperance meeting and although the ministers in charge declared it to be in the interests of a saloonless nation rather than the opening of the fight to make Plainville a no-license com 1nunity, the preacher gave up some of his time to a discussion of local con- ditions.
 MT Lanphear gave a number of statistics to show how the nation would profit morally and financially | should John Barleycorn be sent into exile. Tn P1ainville, he declared, the return from liquor licenses, which is but fraction of a mill in the tax rate, would quickly be offset by a reduc- tton in the cost of keeping the poor, l should the saloons be banished.
 The speaker was attenttvely fol- 1 lowed by a large audience and he