COWBOYS IN LONDON

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 220, 11 June 1924, Page 9

COWBOYS IN LONDON

NARROW ESCAPE FROM DROWNING WHEN SWIMMING THE THAMES London, June 9. Extraordinary scenes were witnessed by thousands of spectators on Kew Bridge, when two cowboys tried to swim the swollen Thames on • horses. They were swept off in midstream, and narrowly escaped, drowning. As the result of this episode, a horse race across the Thames, in which thirty-nine of the Wembley cowboys were to participate, has been abandoned. Floundering through four feet of Thames mud, the two cowboys, Aldrich and Walker, urged their horses into deep water, where they were caught by the strong flood current and swept like corks downstream. The crowd, which had. hitherto regarded the affair as a joke, realised that the men and horses were fighting for their lives. A cowboy with lasso, and Walker’s sister, who is a champion swimmer, made desperate efforts to reach them with a boat. Walker was rescued, exhausted, and his horse was lassoed and tied to the boat. Meanwhile Aidrich, who was unable to swim, was unseated, and disappeared downstream. When his head appeared Miss Walker, plunging in, piloted the cowboy to the shore. His horse reached the bank. —■ Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. [Kew Bridge is on the direct road from Richmond, in a thickly-populated area. This part of the Thames is subject to flood during heavy ram. The water is collected in the vicinity of Brentford Eyot, and when it comes away it causes tho river to run very swiftly.] ■