THE DROWNING SEASON.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1440, 5 October 1899, Page 14

THE DROWNING SEASON.

SERPENTINE AND THAMES CLAIM ARDENT BATHERS. " London again figures unenviably in the list of deaths due to bathing m dangerous waters, both the river and the Serpentine claiming victims to the desire for an openair dip. The Serpentine case was that of Arthur Edward Betts, aged twenty-two, one of the Thames Ironworks Company's clerks, who, although living at- Camber well, went to the Serpentine to bathe. On Tuesday evening, ten minutes after bathing ceased, his clothes were found by a tree, and after two hours' search, his body was found thirty yards from the bank in. 7ft of water. He had been a swimmer for eight years. Death was due to heart failure. It was said at the inquest that there were so many bathers and so much noise that'a. cry for help might not be heard by the boatmen in attendance. Verdict:—Accidental death. The Thames victims were little companions, one —a fourteen-year-old lad named Eastlake, of Fetter lane—who was drowned a day or two after, vainly trying to save the other, Arthur Furniss, aged thirteen. During dinner hour they disported themselves near Queenhithe dock, and got out of their depth. Police officers told the coroner vesterday that efforts to keep the lads out of the river were useless. Verdicts : —Accidental death. Here is another instance: George Briton Johnson; aged fourteen, of Hunstanton road, Wandsworth, was bathing IN THE THAMES at Battersea, Avhen he got beyond his depth and was drowned. A triple case happened at Gloucester, when three boys, Jesse and Albert Bagwell /and James Phelps, were drowned while 'bathing in a canal. A joke which turned to tragedy came to light in the inquest on Sergeant Chown, of Daventry, the Volunteer who was drowned at Yarmouth last Saturday. He said to his brother facetiously, " I'm going bathing. You'll find my will in my box. He bathed with several companions and was found dead in four feet of water. No will was found. He had suffered from heart disease, which was supposed to have led to his death. The jury returned a verdict of found drowned. Henry Ernest Wright, a river policeman at Brightlingsea, was drowned while bathing from a boat. An open verdict was returned in the case of Ernest Grigsby, aged seventeen, a bargeman, found drowned in the Regent's Canal, at Limehouse. A man wearing Holborn Union clothes was found drowned off Charing Cross on Monday. The officials could not identify him yesterday, when a jury returned the usual verdict. Thomas ToWsend, twenty-two, a Bradford carter, was drowned in the River Wharfe, at Otley, while bathing. He was unable to swim.