The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-08-10
THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES
Master of Water Tricks at
II Still Battles Experts
Enoch Taylor, Known Over
World for Feats, to
Perform Here.

AltEOugN a. ne Can dCCOifIp4lSll
feats in the water that BATTLE the
most accomplished swimming ex-
perts in the country.
He is Enoch Taylor, known
throughout the United States and
England as "Enoch," who holds the
worlds record for staying under
water.
Enoch made this record in 1856,
in the Wonderland theater, Lowell,
Mass.
Tattooed on his left arm which,
in spite of Ills seventy-two years
still is strong and vigorous. is the
record of his time-4 minutes and
46 and is seconds.
While under water. Enoch is able
to do all of the old tank tricks"
which he learned as a boy in Eng
land. He drinks bottle of milk
while under water: sings a song.
with his head under a bucket. and
smokes cigar protruding from a
long cane from the top of the pool
Other Swimmers Fail
Other swimmers have tried to
copy these tricks. but they have TO
admit that the "old man" is too
good for them.
In spite of his years. he can stay
under water longer than any of us.
Earl Montgomery. swimming in
structor at the Broad Ripple pool.
says: Il have TO watch him care
fully, though. He wants 20 try TO
break his worlds record, and I am
afraid for him to do it,"
Enoch learned to swim when he
was a l5-year-old boy at Keighley,
Yorkshire, Eng. He was the only
member of his family who ever
learned to swim. His uncle was
drowned. His 9-year-old brother
also was drowned when he fell into
a canal. while fishing for craw-
fish.
"Sneaks" His Lesson
Il made up my mind then that I
would learn 10 swim; l said I never
would drown as they did" he says.
But Enoch's mother was afraid of
the water, and he had to sneak"
his swimming lessons. He worked
for a grocer in Keighley. He was
paid 4 cents night, and took this
money to pay his entrance fee at
Keighley swimming pool.
One day he was playing tag with
his companions, and one of them
fell into the canal. Enoch saved
his life. and the firsa knowledge that
his parents had that he could swim
was the notice in the local paper
that their son had rescued the boy
from drowning
Rents Town Hall
From that time he began 10 give
swimming exhibitions. He saved
the money that he made as a ma
chinist, and bought tank. He
rented the town hall for a weeks
exhibition and had bills printed an
nouncing the show. The first night
he took in 13 cents.
when the week was over, I
hadn't enough money to pay any
of my bills he says. The next
year I persuaded the town council
TO allow me to use the hall again
This time the people were more
interested. They attended the show,
and I was able to pay all my bills
for that and the previous year and
had SIS left. I felt frightfully rich Z"
In 1890. he jumped from London
bridge into the Thames river, tied
in a sack. The cord in the top of
the sack became entangled, and
Enoch had difficulty in releasing
himself.
1T was the nearest I ever came
to drowning" he confesses.
The following summer he swan
two miles in the sea, with his hands
and feet tied together.
Enoch is amused at the inability
OF his swimming companions to re-
produce his underwater tricks.
They remind me of my early
years when I was trying to learn
those tricks myself" he says. Il
practiced drinking bottle of milk
under water in my bath tub. I
drank and drank. When I came up
for air, the milk still was in the
bottle. but I had almost finished
the water in the bath tub"