Water Death Fate Gets Early Start; Bather Drowned
First Drowning of the Year Occurred Last Night at Rapids Stone Quarry.
Laborer Dies Despite the Prompt Action of Rescuers-Pulmotor Fails.
Within sight of more than a dozen persons, Henry Posthuma, farm laborer, 21 years old, was drowned between the hours of 7 and 8 o'clock last night, in the pit of a stone quarry located near the rapids, owned by the Fox Ice company. The body was recovered by members of the Racine Life Saving crew less than thirty minutes later, and the pulmotor of the police department was used to save the unfortunate man, but without success and the body was removed to the Thronson morgue on Fifth street.
Mr. Posthuma was a native of Holland and had been a resident of Racine for less than one year, coming here from near Cambria, Wis. He was a single man and employed on the farm of Y. P. Thompson, just north of the Country club.
Bathe in Pit
After supper last evening Mr. Posthuma proposed to his friend Charles Van Burton, also a Hollander, who has only been in this country a few months, and employed by Mr. Thompson, that they repair to the Fox quarry and go in bathing, as the weather was extremely hot.
Mr. Thompson asked Posthuma if he could swim and he answered a little. Mr. Thompson warned him to go in at the east end of the quarry where the water was shallow and to be careful.
The two men started away from the Thompson farm and what happened is best told by Mr. Van Burton: "We arrived at the swimming place and put on overalls. Henry went into the shallow water to the east and I dove in farther to the west, in deep water, the depth of water in the pit running from three to eighty feet.
Hears a Call
"I swam but around the pit two or three times and suddenly I heard Henry call, as if in distress, and I got out of the water and ran to where he was bathing and saw him disappear beneath the water, he evidently having been seized with a cramp or got beyond his death and was unable to get back. I made an effort to get hold of and save him, but without success.
"There must have been a dozen boys swimming in the pit, most of them on the west and north sides. Several of them swam or ran around to where Henry sank and tried to get him, but could not do so.
Police Hurry to Scene
When the department received notice of the accident Sergeant George Crangle and Driver Swan, with the pulmotor, hurried to the Live Saving station and took in Captain Egeland and Surfman Kvam. The run to the quarry was made in less than fifteen minutes and the body hauled from the water a few minutes later.
At once the pulmotor was applied and the police officers and life savers worked hard for thirty minutes to resuscitate the man, but were unable to do so.
News of the accident spread and when the police ambulance sped along the highways at full speed, with gong sounding, unusual attention was attracted. More than three hundred autos, motorcycles, and bicycles followed and it is estimated that there was one thousand people at the pit or vicinity when the body was pulled out of the water.
Coroner Is Notified
Coroner Kisow was notified of the accident and after making an investigation decided that an inquest would not be necessary.
Mr. Posthuma, as has been stated, was a native of Holland. Before being engaged on the Thompson farm, he worked at the Horlick Food company. Mr. Thompson said that he was a good, steady and hard working man. His father is a resident of Cambria, Wis., residing a few miles out. His mother is dead. Charles Posthuma, brother, resides in this city. When he arrived at the scene of the accident and found that his brother could not be brought back to life, he was almost overcome with grief.
The funeral will take place on Friday afternoon at 2 o'clock from the Thronson Chapel on Fifth street.
