ALMOST A TRAGEDY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLIV, Issue 10133, 10 June 1924, Page 5

ALMOST A TRAGEDY.

COWBOYS SWIM THAMES.

RESCUED JUST IN TIME.

EFFECT OF STRONG CURRENT. (Per Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 8.55' a.m.) LONDON, June 9. Extraordinary scenes were witnessed by thousands of spectators at Kew Bridge, when two cowboys tried to swim the swollen Thames on; horses.

They were swept off in mid-stream and narrowly escaped drowning. , As a result of this episode the horse race across the Thames, in which 39 Wembley cowboys were to participate, was abandoned. Floundering through four feet of Thames mud, two cowboys, Aldrich and Walker, urged their horses into deep water, where they were caught by a strong flood current and swept like corks downstream. The crowd had hitherto regarded the affair as a joke, but now realised that both men and horses were fighting for their liyes.. A rowboat, in which was a cowbby with a lassoo and Walker's sister, who is. a champion swimmer, made desperate efforts to reach them. Walker was rescued. He was exhausted. His horse was lasscoed and tied to the boat. Meanwhile Aldrich, who was unable to swim, was unseated, and disappeared downstream. When his head reappeared. Miss Walker plunged in and piloted the cowboy to the shore. The horse reached the bank