Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 182, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 July 1912 — SEES BODY HUNTERS [ARTICLE]

SEES BODY HUNTERS

Man Meets Friends Dragging Riyer for Him. Thought Drowned He Had Reached Opposite Bank In Series of Long Dives and Was Paddling Back In a Canoe. Richmond, Va. —Whether through thoughtlessness or purpose, Charles Harding caused a sensation among his relatives and had it spread trroughout the city that he had been drowned. Those who fell for the story and took the trouble to investigate it were a bit sore and preferred to believe that it was a put-up job rather than an exhibition of expert swimming. Harding, who is known as one of the most expert swimmers in Fulton — and there are some swimmers in Fulton —went out recently with a number of others. First he swam over to the Chesterfield side of the river, and, after resting for a while, started back. When about midstream, far from any of his companions, he disappeared, and, as far as they could see, never came to the surface again. They waited for some time and then sent out the alarm that he was drowned. His relatives were notified and a searching party was being organized when Harding was discovered calmly rowing up the river in a canoe in which he took passage soon after his remarkable disappearance. It turned out that Harding, when in the middle of the river, took a notion to do some fancy diving. He ducked under the water and let himself go with the current as long as he could hold his breath. Coming up but a moment for a new supply of oxygen,

he took another dive and still another, until, when he finally tired of the stunt, he was nearly a mile from where he left his clothes on the bank.* It was then that he chartered the canoe and returned to the griefstricken relatives and friends who were about to drag the river. One of his kinsmen, Fireman Williams, connected with No. 4 engine house, was among those who bit. *1 knew,” said Mr. Williams, .“that he would not be drowned unless taken with cramp, but anyone is likely to be taken with cramp, so when I got the message there was nothing to do but get a short leave of absence and see about it.’.’ Though he would not say that it was a premeditated fake, Mr. Williams was very dubious.