The sun., 1917-03-12
He'll Gate Swirl Believed to
Have Swallowed Tiny
Gas0lene Launch.
VICTIMS ON WAY TO
RECOVER DEAD MAN
John Lober, 80, and De
Forrest Fredenberg, So,
Sought by Comrades.

East River has squared accounts with
he men Of the police harbor squad. For
~ FIRST time In their long night with
shs blue coated guards Of the river. the
svirIing. treacherous waters below He'll
Oaee have had their revenge for the
thousand lives Of which they have been
ehssted by the patrolmen's vigilance.
rvo men were the penalty demanded and
Ahsn.
Al day yesterday and through the
night men Of Harbor Stations A, b and
c used graphing hooks In the waters at
~ foot Of East Seventy eighth street
~ the two bodies Of their comrades.
As,a BY the revengcful river 40 prissa.
And all day yesterday three childrsn
n little home at SOC West lssth street
wondered why their very wopderful. big
buecoated daddy did not como home.
And even stranger than that. why did
their mamma hug them 30 close and kiss
them and cry when they asked about
hin?
A little before 9 on Saturday eve
ming some one had telephoned Harbor
Station B at the foot Of l34th street
that the body Of an unidentified man
had been taken out Of the river at
East Sixty-second street. Immediately
Policemen John Lober. 50 years old.
and De Forrest Fredenberg. So years
Old, an honor roll man. were ordered to
take police launch No. s. proceed to
Sixty-second street and from there take
he body TO the Morgue. at East Twenty
sixth street. Lober was pilot OF the
eight horsepower gssoiene police boat
~ Fredenberg the engineer.
Men MysteriOusly DisapDeaF.
n was about s:lb when the little
launch slipped away from the floating
station that since February 1 has been
divorced from Its old home on Randalrs
Island and been anchored at the foot
Of the New York Central bridge so that
at night Its searchlsxhtE might play on
tho great steel piers.
A few minutes later the boat docked
At the home station on RandalDs Island
and from officer Lumbard, In charge OF
the police storerooIns. the crew received
their ni,ht lights. There was no hurry
and for a time the three old friends
chatted about the nurky, uncertain
night and how long 1t would he before
Inc river would begin its spring CAM
palga Of giving up it's dead garnered
during the long winter months. All were
river men and knew the waters moods
and tricks and loved them and feared
them and now talked Of them.
It was dark when the two men climbed
\ M f.fY
lines and shouted good night. The
liver was almost free from boats at that
line Of night, with the busy week ended
As far as he could see her tho station
keeper watched the lights OF the little
boat as she fought her way down stream
against a roaring, swirlins hood tide
running at fully eleven miles an hour.
Hears Cry for HelD.
on the foot of East Seventy .eightt
street was tied the Lackawanna harg'
No. Sic. Capt. Nicholas Toneti and hi,
wife had Just finished their supper and
we're standing in the doorway OF theii
cabin when the police boat chuEged By
within fifty feet. It was dark. but Capt
Tonet! could see clearly the outline o
the launch and even the little squar'
green police flag flying at her stern. Al
far as the police have been able to fnt
he was the last man who saw the ittl'
craft afoat.
At this point in the west channel ther'
10 a strong ebb close to the Manhattan
side that runs counter to the tide. II
order to get the advantage Of this ebl
Iober at the helm huGged the ives
shore, passing close to the long. heav!
barge, In ten seconds he had swept b!
tha .ko ol1 In
doorway and slipped into the darkness.
Between eight and ten minutes hat
passed when Capt. Tonetis wife. be
hev!ng that she heard cry for hell
from the direction of the river. ran Il
the door and threw II open. Then tn,
cry came clearly--a desperate, hopeless
call from upstream and less than hun
dred feet away. And being n woman o.
the river she knew what II was-th'
hnal appeal Of drowning mana hear
rendlng cry in the dark without hope o
rescue.
Others heard the call and rushed I,
me wharf. And then the cry ceased
There was nothing to be done excep
to notify the police and await the tim
when the waters give up their dead.
Proof That Boat FoundereA.
Ordinarily Policemen Lober and Ere
denoerg should have been back at thei
nome station around 10 o'clock Whe
they did not return at midnight tn
officers became alarmed and started a
Investigation. Then early yesterda
morning Policeman Roth picked up lif
preserver in the river of Ninety -frs
street and the men who knew the equiv
inent of the lost police boat recognize
as one that the launch had carried
An hour or two later a part OF the hate
and coInbinR around the cabin wer
round, and then the officers were cei
tain the little boat and her Screw &
TWO had been taken at last by the rive
Shortly after noon yesterday wOr
came from Staten Island that Andre
Pagg, a boatman living in Stapleton. ha
Picked up part Of the top Of the cabi
with the green police nag stiil attached
and on the flag was the number 8.
The theory OF the river police of Hal
Dor stations A. B and C who gathere
~ Seventy eighth street and dragged II
river was that the police launch had co
lded with a larger boat--possibly n sco
'owed by tugboat---and had been sweI
under the overhanging PROV and sun
Loher, the youthful pilot, had been abb
was hgured. to escape from the whe
mouse long enough to founder. yell ar
'roWn, but the elderly Fredenber
caught In the engine room. had goi
Down with the craft.