Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-08-08

ure. Persons having weak. heart ac-
ton should be very careful not to
plunge suddenly into very cold water,
and in fact, should not venture very
far from shore. Those suffering from
valvular affection especially, are not
competent to take care of themselves
in the water and the same applies to
apoplectic men.
Even among those who are able to
save themselves, there Is surprising
ly small proportion who know how to
save anyone else. II every swimmer
made 1t his business to master the few
holds used in life saving, the whole
field of water sports would be made
UNNECESSARILY safer.
The popular idea that drowning
person should be subdued by blow
on the head to stop his struggles is
a fallacy. Owing to the fact that both
persons are in very light medium.
the blow can not be delivered with
enough force to do any good or harm
either. as. -...
If the frantic victim grips you so
that you can not swim, there are sew.
eral ways to break his hold. One Of
these is to apply your thumbs to the
soft spot right under the ear, where
1t meets the jaw. Pressure there
causes acute pain, and this will make
the victims grip relax. Try 1t on
yourself. Another way is to put the
palm of your hand over his mouth,
pinching the nostrils closed with the
fingers. The asphyxiation will cause
him to release you in order to remove
your hands. y
Having gotten free, the next thing
is get behind your man. The best way
to do this is to grasp his arm, near the
body, and force yourself under water,
coming up behind him. Then grasp
him by. the hair or clothing, and tow
him ashore, face uppermost, swimming
on your back. In approaching a
drowning person, do SO warily, keep
ing behind him if possible. II he
reaches out to grasp you, get hold
on his arm close to the body, proceed
as described above.
The professional life savers have
elaborate wrestling tricks for break
ing any hold that frantic person may
take upon his rescuers. 1t requires
an expert to master them ALL These
directions will at least give you a
mode of procedure in case Of water
accident.
It is very easy to bring an uncon-
scious person ashore. Simply turn
him on his back and tow him by the
hair or clothing. In the case Of an
exhausted swimmer, have him place
one hand upon your shoulder and trail
his body
In addition to practicing these meth
DDS, good training for life saving is
the carrying of a moderately heavy
rock in the hands while swimming
with the legs and also diving from a
treadwater position.
Many swimmers lose their lives
through struggling against an unex-
pected tide or current. This is near
ly always losing battle. You will be
exhausted before making any consid-
cradle distance If you try to breast
the water. while If you go with it, you
can travel far, and probably either
reach shore or get assistance. Swim
ming after a row boat that is being
carried away by breeze is another
way of losing your life. The row boat
moves a great dali faster than it ap-
pears to.
If person sinks and fails to come
up again, look closely for bubbles. II
there is current, dive we'll above the
point where these rise and zig gag
down stream close to the bottom. If
the water is still, dive straight at the
bubbles and explore in circles.