Evening star., 1935-08-31
TWO ARE DROWNED
AS BOAT CAPS|zES;
; OTHERS SAVED
Man and Woman Die Get
ting Into Skiff for
Picnic Trip.
BODIES ARE RECOVERED
FROM POTOMAC WATERS
Owner of Boat Was on Way to
Lock It Up at Time
of Accident.

While its owner was on his way to
take his small skiff out of ferry service
across the Chesapeake & Ohio canal
yesterday afternoon, a man and q
woman were drowned in attempting
to use the boat.
SO, housekeeper at 2930 M street. was
recovered a few minutes after the
boat capsized.
The body Of Robert L. Donohue, 81
the other victim, was not recovered
until shortly after II o'clock this
morning. Despite the swift current
which carried Mrs. Sinclair down.
stream yesterday, Harbor Precinct po-
lice recovered Donohue's body within
a few feet of where the boat sank
Donohue, a retired undertaken, also
had lived at the M street address.
Three companions who survived the
accident were taken to the seventh
precinct for investigation. They art
Reginald De Koven Hereford, A, Q
contractor living at 1888 N street
Frank Edward Greenan. 46, anc
George Hewitt Allen, A, both sales.
men of Buffalo, N. Y. Hereford latel
was released under $5CC bond pending
an inquest.
The party was on its way to the
banks Of the Potomac where a OlcniC
was to have been held. They mad
been drinking at the home of Dono-
hue, one of the men told police, and
then drove to the canal In an auto
mobile owned by one of the Buffalo
men. Searching along the canal fol
q place to cross, they found the Skifi
and got in. Mrs. Sinclair was the
last to step into the boat and as che
got aboard, the small craft capsized
Woman's Body Found.
Her body was taken from the
water by two boys and girl-Fred
Rest, $500 block of Canal road; Fred
Beaver of Capitol Heights, Md. md
Mary Nails, 2133 Twenty-fourth
street--after it had lodged on a rope
across the canal about 100 yards
from the scene of the drowning.
They said they were walking on
the banks of the canal when they
saw a straw hat and a cigar nolder
with a cigar in it, floating down
the canal. Looking up the canal
they said, they saw the head of q
woman appear above water. They
put out In a canoe and brought the
woman to the bank. They said she
apparently was dead when they took
her from the water.
An ambulance, summoned by Mrs
r. w. Rest, mother Of one Of the
young men, took the woman te
Georgetown University Hospital, where
she was pronounced dead on arrival
E. A. Phillips, 4500 block Of Canal
road, was the first to arrive on the
scene after the drowning. He helped
the three survivors crawl from the
water to q small pier. He said the
small skiff evidently had capsized be-
fore it left the pier.
Liquor Is Found.
Police found two pints OF liquor
and several bottles of beer in the
overturned skiff. Neither of the
liquor bottles had been opened.
The skiff is owned by w. H. Stock
man, who lives between the canal
and the Potomac River. He said 1t
had been used as a ferry for his fam
lily and visiting friends, but that at
the time of the drowning he was on
his way to nail on oarlocks to con-
vert it into a rowboat. While fire.
men dragged the canal for the body
of Donohue, Stockman pulled the
skiff to the bank and made his alter
ations. He then placed q paddock
on it. The boat previously was pro-
PEELED from side to side by a rope
tied to each end and to the banks
on both sides.
Hereford made statement to police
in which he told of efforts to save Mrs.
Sinclair and Donohue.
when the boat went under, got
hold of Mrs. Sinclair and started for
the bank with her." he said. "But
Donohue, who couldn't swim, grabbed
me by the neck and Mrs. Sinclair got
away from me as struggled to escape
his hold. After the struggle I was
barely able to save myself"
Police quoted Greenan as saying he
rescued Allen, who could not swim.
Donohue conducted funeral par
lor with his son, Robert L., jr., until
about three years ago, when he re-
tired because Of his sons i'll health
The son, who works in the Agriculture
Department, said last night that Here
ford had been trying to sell his father
life insurance for some time. He said
Hereford was the only one Of the three
men he knew.