The Daily Alaska empire., 1937-04-03
CHAS. 6. WARNER BACKS TO DEATH
 CAST. CHANNEL.
Truck Plunges Over Bank at Lower City Float
 Trapped Tn Cab
FRED BOYNTON ONLY
 WITNESS TO TRAGEDY
Had Just Left CarTurn- ed in Alarm to Fire Dept.
 Almost Immediately


 Backing his light truck directly off the narrow gravel road that leads from the Thane highway along the edge of the Alaska-Junea rock dump to the shore end of the Lower City Float, into more than fifteen feet of water, Charles G. Warner, for many years a prominent Juneau resident and operator of the Charles G. Warner Machine Shop here, met death by drowning very few mirl- utes before 3 o'clock yesterday af- ternoon.
 Witness of the tragedy was Fred Boynton, whom MT. Warner had driven from the machine shop to the float, and who h. ad just left the car. It was MT. Boyn- ton who telephoned in the alarm that called the Juneau Volunteer Fire Department to the scene at 3:05 o'clock.
 It was not until more than an hour after the accident occurred, that the firemen, assisted by mine employees and others, were able to raise the truck sufficiently above the surface of Gastineau Channel to extricate the body of the drowned man.
 Describes Tragedy
 MT. Boynton described the tra- gedy. He had just purchased a shaft and other gear at the Warner Ma chine Shop for the installation of gurdies on his boat, the Congo, which is moored at the Lower City Float. WI. Warner offered to drive him to the float in his Ford V-8 pickup model truck, and had just done so. While MT. Warner re- mained in the cab of the truck, MT. Boynton made three trips to the top of the ramp leading down to the float with the parts, from the truck, which was standing on the gravel road directly opposite the ramp, not on the wooden apron, and was headed away from the high way, just as Mir Warner had stopped it.
 Having taken the last of the parts from the truck body, MT. Boynton had turned away, but looked back to see Mir. Warner close the cab door, through which MT Boynton had passed out, and commence to back along the narrow road toward the highway, instead of turning the car around at the head of the float.
 Backing Fast
 He was backing up quite fast, , declared MT. Boynton.
 Part way down the ramp toward his boat, MT. Boynton looked back again, just in time to see the truck tottering on the brink just along side the telephone booth at the head of the ramp. Dropping his parts, he rushed back up the ramp toward the, truck to give what aid he could in getting MT. Warner out from behind the wheel, and did not see the truck topple down the steep bank, as the telephone booth was between him and it.
 When he next saw the truck, it was semi-floating, upright in the water, with the top of the cab above surface: then, slowly, it settled out of sight beneath the surface, still upright.
 Watches for Victim
 Hurrying back down to the float, MT. Boynton watched for MT. War her to come to the surface and stood ready to aid him from the small boats moored almost directly above where the truck had sunk. When Warner did not come to the surface, Mr. Boynton sent in the alarm from the telephone booth, and continued to watch for Warner to rise, while awaiting the arrival of the Fire De- partment.
 On arriving at the scene, the fire men, assisted by boatmen and mine employees. immediately began grap- bling for the truck in the deep water, using a boat anchor as hook. Several times they hooked the truck and strained on the line, only to have parts of the vehicle rip away and their hook break loose. Mean while a tractor from the Alaska Juneau Dock, driven by Elmer Lind strom, and a wrecking car from the Connors Motor Company had been taken to the scene, and nearly half a thousand watchers had collected
 lCnntinued nr Page EipnLt