2 Boys Nearly Drown as Dog Rescue Fails

One Swims in Icy Creek to Take Rope From Shore

“Aw gee it wasn’t nothing.” That was the way William Watkins, 13 years old, 1025 Princess Avenue, who is shown above, expressed today his rescue of Richard Richardson, 9 years old, 1028 Princess Avenue, pictured below. Richard was attempting to save a marooned puppy in a tributary of Cooper River when he fell into the icy water.

Death in the icy water of a Cooper River tributary was the fate that almost overtook a 9-year-old Camden schoolboy who late yesterday risked his life to save a shivering little stray puppy he discovered floating down the stream on a block of ice.

Few epics of the sea have the elements of adventure and heroism that are woven into this story.

Richard Richardson, 9 years old, 1028 Princess Avenue, was the outstanding hero. He spent 39 minutes clinging to pieces of ice and debris in the stream after his attempt to save the puppy had failed. Today he was in Cooper hospital suffering from extreme exposure.

But young Richard wasn’t the only hero of the day. There were four of his playmates with him when he tried to rescue the animal in distress. This little “supporting cast” came in for its share of glory. When Richard slipped into the water all of them showed “grown-up” presence of mind and to them goes credit for saving their companion’s life.

Playing After School

Robert Perrit, 15 years old, 1062 Princess Avenue; Howard Hadleman, 10 years old, 1040 Princess Avenue; William Kline, 12 years old, 1041 Princess Avenue; and William Watkins, 13 years old, 1025 Princess Avenue, were playing with the Richardson boy at the foot of Pine Street after school.

Parallel with Pine Street, running from the end of the roadway to the Baird Avenue bridge, there is a stream 30 feet wide, which was dredged out when the course of Cooper River was changed several years ago. A swift current is formed by the overflow of the river.

It was beginning to grow dark when the youngsters were attracted to the stream by the yelps of a dog. They ran to the bank and found a forlorn looking puppy floating away on a piece of ice that had broken from the shore. Although he was the youngest of the group, his love of animals is the greatest and so it was young Mr. Richardson who decided that Fido, as they called him, should be rescued.

The fearless little boy walked out into the center of the stream, stepping from one block of ice to another in the fashion of Simon Legree in that blood-curdling melodrama, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”

Just Misses Dog

While the four on shore shouted a warning, Richard, within reach of the dog, slipped into the water.

Instead of being frightened into confusion, the little quartet was electrified into action. Hadleman and Watkins remained on shore futilely attempting to get to the boy who was splashing around in the water, while Kline and Perrit ran 100 yards to the plant of the Taylor White Extracting Company.

There they told the story of what had happened as calmly as they could to John Simpkins, of Mt. Ephraim Avenue and Spruce Street, and Morton Ashton, 100 Evergreen Avenue, Woodlynne.

The two men grabbed several planks and a coil of rope, and followed the youthful pair back to the water’s edge.

Richard was still paddling about in the stream, clinging to pieces of ice that slipped from his grasp almost as soon as he touched them. It was obvious that he was almost exhausted.

Simpkins and Ashton tied a rope onto the Watkins boy’s waist, set him afloat on a large plank and gave him an end of another rope to tie to Richard. The plan was a good one, but it almost failed, for just as William had paddled him out to where Richard was struggling, almost 20 feet from the south bank, he fell from his improvised raft. Just as the boy he fought to rescue had fallen into the water within inches of the puppy.

Bravely Gives Rope

But William was determined to show the grit that had been displayed by Richard. Without a single shout for help or a cry of distress, he struggled on a few feet more and handed the almost exhausted boy the end of the rope.

Simpkins and Ashton then pulled the pair to shore.

At the offices of the Taylor White Company, the pair was undressed and rubbed dry. W. E. Shore, 1425 Ormond Avenue, took Richard to Cooper Hospital, while the other four, praise for their heroism unsung, disappeared.

It is a story to rival the rescue tales of many a seafaring gentleman, but it has two strange bits of anti-climax.

Before Robert and Howard and William and young Watkins went home, they returned to the bank of the stream; the dog had vanished, apparently to the bottom.

And half an hour later, William Watkins, his clothes soaked and his face covered with mud, received a spanking for getting home late for dinner.