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Show Tei Minutes Later This Man Yas Drowned ir. ... ,' t " " ' - r:""i V..' .-i'V; . 'I J. . ' "" ' . . ': iv. .- , ...... .-.''3 v . . . . . 1 There was no indica'tion Saturday Sat-urday around 4 p.m., when Ted , Harris took this picture, that death by drowning awaited the man shown at right. Weather was bright at 67 degrees, and the reservoir calm and quiet. Ted took the picture and drove on, and learned later that with in ten minutes the man was drowned. The man was James Warren Taylor of Tooele, in Delta for the pheasant hunt. At the ieft is the pheasant he hoped to retrieve, re-trieve, about 75 feet away in the water. On the bank near Mr. Taylor was his black and white hunting dog. unwilling to enter the water. Mr. Taylor stood waist deep in the water for several minutes calling the dog. Then he turned and waded out to where the bank drops off, and swam to the bird. The dog followed. The rservoir here, just above the river spillway is about 100 ieet across. The middle channel chan-nel is 12 to 18 feet deep. Mr. Taylor had reached the pheasant phea-sant and was halfway back when he called for help. The doy had tried to crawl on his back, and later made the shore, shaking from cold for a good half hour. James Warren Taylor, 28, of Tooele, pheasant hunting- in the Delta area, drowned Saturday shortly after 4 p.m. in the reservoir reser-voir west of town. The fire siren at 4:15 signalled the Delta volunteer volun-teer fire department of the accident, acci-dent, and Cle Whicker and Fera Little rushed to the scene of the accident with the pulmotor. The body was not recovered from the icy waters until 7:10 p.m. Mr. Taylor was with a party of Tooele hunters, Rulon England, Alva Whitehouse and son, Blaine, and Marion Bevan. They were camped near the reservoir and were hunting about the river spillway. spill-way. Mr. Taylor was on the east bank of the channel about 50 yards above the bridge, when a pheasant was shot from the west shore and fell in the water. He attempted to coax his hunting hunt-ing dog to retrieve the bird, but the dog was apparently unwilling. So Mr. Taylor stripped his clothes and waded out into the water, call ing the dog after him. It was about this time that Ted Harris drove by and snapped the picture shown above. He then drove on, and shortly after Mr. and Mrs. Glen Seegmiller, son, David, and Donald Ray Western drove up on the bridge. J Witness Scene Glen was surprised to see the man in the water, could see the bird and his parley with the dog. He stopped to watch and remarked on the nerve it took to attempt that water in November weather. By this time the man had waded out from shore about 25 feet in waist deep water. Then he struck out himself for the pheasant, that was about 50 feet or so distant. Mr. Seegmiller said he was a powerful pow-erful swimmer, using strong overarm over-arm strokes, and reached the pheasant in a matter of seconds. Cries for Help It was on the return trip that he began slowing down. The phea sant was in his left hand, and his dog had caught up with him and attempted to climb on his back. He brushed the animal off twice, then turned onto his back and called for help. He was then about halfway back. The Seegmillers realized his danger and attempted to get help ' to him. Mr. Seegmiller worked as rapidly as possible through the dense greasewoods between him and the shore, dragging a heavy 8-foot post to shoev out for the man to cling to. The boys ran a-head. a-head. In the last few seconds before be-fore they broke through to the shore the man dissappeared. The boys went in the water but could see nothing. Unable to Help His hunting companions were over the bank in the brush when they heard Mr. Taylor's cries. They rushed to his aid and could just see the crown of his head before he went down. Mr. Whitehouse dived in twice, but could not find his friend. Then Mr. Seegmiller rushed to the Leigh Maxfield home and telephoned the alarm. The men with the pulmotor arrived ar-rived shortly and boats were sought. Oscar Kelly and son, Ladd, brought their boat, motor and the grappling equipment to the scene. Alfred Lake, Orran Stoddard and C. L. Palmer soon were there with two more boats. Assisting in the search were Fire Chief Dick Wind, Lionel Taylor, Tommy Watson, Wat-son, Ray Western and Spencer H. Wright. It was almost three hours later when the body was recovered. Water Wa-ter there was from 12 to 15 feet deep and he was less than 10 feet from where he could have stood and walked out. Mr. Taylor was born in Salt Lake City March 6, 1921, a son of Fred and Ada Smythe Taylor. He (Continued on back page) Hunter Drowns; ( Continued from page 1) had lived in Tooeje the past four years, where he was a car repair man employed on the Tooele Valley Val-ley railroad. He is survived by his wife,, Betty L. Taylor, and a 3-year old daughter, DeAnne, and his par ents and a brother and sister in Salt Lake City. He was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-ray Saints. Funeral services will be held in Salt Lake City Thursday at 1 p.m. at 36 E. 7th South. Burial will be in Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park. Appreciates Help Mr. Taylor's hunting companions particularly wished to express their deep appreciation of the help given them in the accident. They felt that every effort was put forth to help them for which they were grateful. It was their second hunting trip to Delta. The same party hunted here togther a year ago. That time a pheasant fell into the reservoir and Mr. Taylor and Mr. England flipped a coin to see which had the cold job of retrieving the bird, and the lot fell to Mr. England. He emerged safely, which may have tempted Mr. Taylor to at -tmpe the feat this year. Unfamiliar Unfamil-iar with the waters, which were frigid following a week of minimum mini-mum temperatures ranging from 18 to 22 degress, he did not realize the danger. |