COULD NOT DROWN

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 May 1931, Page 5

COULD NOT DROWN

RESCUE ON THE SEINE. PARIS, March 16. Tired of his nightly toil, and generally weary of the world, a linotype operator, Lucien N., decided to take his departure. But he chose a futile means. Going on to the . Concorde Bridge he stripped off his boots and jacket and plunged into the Seine. Crowds of passers-by rushed horrorstricken to the parapets, while a policeman telephoned to the river life saving corps. The salvage boat was joined by other craft, and went in pursuit of the printer, who was being carried rapidly down the stream. The boat soon got alongside Lucien, and attempts were made to drag him on board. But he proved to be a powerful swimmer, and whenever the boat got near him dived to escape the rescuers. The thrilling chase proceeded past several bridges until the man became exhausted and was hauled out of the water. Lucien’s relatives attribute his action to a. fit of temporary insanity. Colour is lent to this by the fact that at the police station the man remarked: “I had forgotten that I was a swimmer.”