A gallant— though unsuccessful—attempt to rescue a lad from drowning was made on Wednesday afternoon by Wm. Joseph Farey Tassell, aged 17, son of Mr. and Mrs. Tassell, of 10, Brookfield-road, Rushden. It appears that a ten-year-old lad named Harold Leslie Goodman, son of Mr. T. M. Goodman, of 40, Spencer-road, Rushden, while bathing in the River Nene near Ditchford station, got out of his depth. On hearing screams, Tassell, who had dressed after a swim, quickly divested himself of his clothing, and, sending a lad to the railway station for assistance, jumped into the water, making several attempts to rescue the drowning lad, but without avail.

The circumstances of the tragic affair were investigated at an inquest held at the Police Station, Rushden, yesterday afternoon by Mr. J. Cairns Parker, deputy coroner, Mr. C. W. Barker was chosen foreman of the jury.

Dr. H. S. Baker said:- On Wednesday at 6.30p.m. I was called to see the deceased at his home in Spencer-road. The body was still warm, and I should think the lad had been dead about a couple of hours. There were no external marks of violence. Death was due to suffocation, the result of drowning. I understand that the deceased, when he was about four or five years of age, had a succession of "fits" of an epileptic nature, but that he had had none since then, and there is no suspicion that he had a fit while he was in the water.

Thomas Mallows Goodman, boot operative, of 40, Spencer-road, Rushden, the father of the deceased, deposed: My son was ten years of age in July last, and was having his holidays from school. He left home about 1.30p.m. on Wednesday, but I did not know he had gone to bathe. I thought he had gone to catch minnows. He had been to the bathing-place with me, but never alone, as far as I know. I had always told him not to go bathing without me. He could not swim at all. On Wednesday afternoon I was fetched from the factory, my wife having sent a messenger, and I at once borrowed the manager's bicycle and cycled to Ditchford. Deceased had had no fits since he was four or five years old, and the doctor had told us he would outgrow them by the time he was six years of age.

William J. F. Tassell, of 16, Brookfield-road, Rushden, aged 17, said: I am now acting as a postman. Yesterday afternoon, at about 3.45, I was bathing in the River Nene, when I saw deceased—whose name I did not know, but whom I had seen in the streets—playing on the bank of the river, with a lot more children. He was undressed. When I got out of the water he was still playing on the bank. I started dressing, some distance away, about 40 yards, I should say, and deceased then went into the water with another lad. Deceased had a corked bottle, and kept throwing it into the water and then fetching it. I thought this was dangerous, so I shouted to him to stop, and told him if he did not stop he would probably get out of his depth. He still kept on, and I told him a second time. I went on dressing, and suddenly I heard some children scream. I jumped up, but all I could see was a pair of hands stretching out of the water, in the middle of the stream, where it was deep. I undressed quickly and jumped into the water, and tried to get at him, but just as I was a foot or two away he went down. I can swim fairly well, but I was exhausted. I got out as best I could, and, after a breathing space, I went in again. Then I dived to the bottom to see if I could find him, but I could see nothing of him. Before I jumped in the first time I sent a lad to the railway station for help, but I do not think he went, because when I got out he was talking to two women. I could not do any more than I did—I was too done up. The river is very dangerous there, because there are deep holes, and that is why I warned the lad twice. It might be five feet deep in one spot and a step away ten feet.

P.C. Johnson, of Irthlingborough, said he dragged the water, and found the body at a place where the river is 12 yards wide and 10 feet deep. Deceased was quite dead. This was about 5.15, and he had been in the water between one and two hours.

The jury returned a verdict of "Accidentally drowned" and expressed their appreciation of the effort of Tassell to rescue the lad.

The Coroner, conveying to Tassell the jury's commendation, said he appeared to have done the very best he could to reach the boy.