Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1917-06-14
BARABOO SHOCKED
BY DROWNING
Unfortunate Lad Was Freshman in
High School, Unusually Bright
and Progressing

Inc community was SAoShOu w
Tuesday afternoon as the news rapid
ly spread that a boy had been drowned
in the Baraboo river, and the scene OF
the accident was quickly reached by
a large number of persons anxious to
help in any way possible to recover
the body of the unfortunate youth.
The drowned boy, Alfred Meyers, was
a son of Mr.. and Mrs. T. A. Meyers,
who reside on Webster Prairie. In
company with Lester Steinbrink and
Estus Hawkins, he went for swim in
the river about mile above Lyons,
at the bend where the railroad bridge
spanned the waters years ago, before
the right of way was changed to the
other side of the river.
According to the statement or the
Hawkins lad, the boys heard cry
that sounded like Give got coming
from the Meyers boy, who had started
to swim across the river, and believe
he intended to say, ''Ive got cramp."
They were on the shore near by at
the time and hurried to the assistance
of the drowning lad, who had already
gone down once or twice. They seized
him by the hair and tried to hold him
above the water, according to their
story, but were obliged to relinquish
their hold, for fear Of being pulled
under the water themselves by the
struggles of the drowning boy.
Drowning Unknown for Hours
The accident happened about 1880
in the morning, but the companions OF
the unfortunate lad did not tell OF the
sad accident until about 2:3O in the
afternoon, when Hawkins notified Dis
trict Attorney J. Fl. Hill, and he in
turn told the sad news to the parents
of the boy, who fastened to the scene
arriving there about 3:45.
It appears that after the accident
the companions of the drowned boy
went to school, and Hawkins stated
that he wrote an examination before
he decided to tell what had happened.
When asked why he did not notify
someone at once he said, 1--WE did not
know what to do" Evidently the boys
were too frightened for a time to do
anything. a3a
Body Not Recovered Until Today
AS soon as the word was given that
Baraboo boy had been drowned in
the river several auto loads of men
and boys went to the scene of the
drowning, where the two companions
of the unfortunate lad described as
accurately as possible where their
friend sank The water at that point
of the river is unusually deep and the
current swift Boats were procured
and an effort made at first to locate
the body by means of pike poles, which
were found to be too short to touch
bottom in many places. A long rope
with hooks and lines attached at reg
ular intervals and sunk by means Of
stones attached was used in an at
tempt to drag the river. Several boys
and young men tried to reach the bot
tom by diving and thus locate the
body, but this was found impractical
BILE. Dynamite was used late in the
afternoon in an attempt to bring the
body to the surface, but without avail
This morning several citizens again
made an attempt to locate the body
by means Of graphing hooks.
1t was not until 1890 today, how
ever, that the body was found.
Charles Gibbons, who resides near the
cement bridge in Lyons, went to the
scene between Il and 1 o'clock and
asked one of those familiar with the
spot where the lad sank to row him
out in boat. Fastening spear that
he had used in fishing on the end of
a long galvanized pipe, Mr.. Gibbons
succeeded in about fifteen minutes in
catching one of the prongs in the boys
heel and brought the body to the sur
face There were indications that in
the previous attempts the body had
been rolled over by the graphing
hooks without their taking hold.
The body was found near the mid
die of the stream about thirty feet
from where the boy sank in about IL
feet of water. The remains were re-
moved to the Ersweu undertaking
rooms.
Among the first to reach the river
after the accident, were Chief of Po-
lice S. A. Pelton, Rev. e. G. Henke and
Edward Weber, who have had some
experience in trying to recover the
bodies of drowned persons. Lieuten-
ant Harry Tudor spent some time div
ing in an effort to locate the boy, and
e. P. Rosenthal, Donald Osthoff, How
ard Ryan, Harold Kingsford, Ray I'm
derkofer, Edward Weber and others
used boats in the early efforts at re-
covery. Later other young men ar
rived and several tried to render as
sistance by diving.