Letters from George

Beverly Lad Drowned While Swimming In River Yesterday

Wm. Butler, 13, Loses Life While Bathing At Foot Of Laurel Street

LOCALITY KNOWN AS DANGEROUS

Body Recovered By Grapplers Hour And Half Later, Near Scene

The Delaware river claimed its first victim of the present [bathing] season here yesterday afternoon in the drowning at the foot of Laurel street of little William Butler, 13-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Butler, of Putnam street.

The boy had donned his bathing suit and plunged into the river shortly before four o'clock. He was an excellent swimmer and struck out boldly from the shore. After [re]porting for a [short] [distance] from shore he suddenly disappeared beneath the surface, according to Mrs. Roland Hatcher, 515 Locust street, who was seated on the sea wall in the shade of a tree and was the only adult witness to the accident. Mrs. Hatcher said she paid [no] attention to the boy's actions believing he was merely at play. However, when some time elapsed and young Butler did not reappear, she realized that something had happened and rushed frantically for assistance. Several colored men who were nearby heard Mrs. Hatcher's cries and spread the alarm. Within a few minutes of the time of the boy's disappearance several boatmen equipped with grappling hooks were dragging the river with feverish haste in the forlorn hope of recovering the boy before life was extinct.

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Patrolmen? were rushed to the scene by the Beverly Salvage Corps in charge of Chief Thomas Holland and Dr. E. Warren Rodman waited on the shore, ready for instant action. A crowd of anxious spectators thronged the bank.

As the minutes slipped away and it became apparent that all hope must be abandoned the grappling crews relaxed their feverish endeavors and settled down to a systematic combing of the river bed, under the direction of Captain Jack Minturn? and police officer E. Budd Stevenson, who were among the workers.

The body was recovered at 5:20 about 100 yards below the point where the lad [disappeared]. [He] was close to the shore in a depth of about five feet. E. B. Stevenson Jr., son of police officer Stevenson, Walter Armstrong and Harry Ward comprised the boat's crew which brought the body ashore. The two latter are drivers employed by the Worth Motor Bus Co., whose homes are in Riverside.

Tender hands carried the body of the little victim up the shore and laid it upon a stretcher. There were excited demands for attempts at resuscitation but as the body had been submerged for an hour and a half, experienced persons knew that such was out of the question.

The body was taken in the Salvage Corps patrol car to the undertaking establishment of Howard W. ? where Drs. E. Warren Rodman and Parry M. Scott made an examination. Coroner Benjamin Farner, of Burlington, was notified who viewed the body and issued a certificate of accidental drowning.

The drowned boy was well-known about town and was a great favorite. He was employed occasionally as errand boy at the Cooper street store of the Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company where his elder brother, John Butler is a clerk. William had just finished delivering circulars for the store when he started for the river to enjoy his swim which proved fatal.

Thomas Butler, father of the de[ceased] (Continued on last page)