With his wife an_ anguished spectator, Mr. Percy Harold Lee (assistant master in the Church of England school at Hornsea) was attacked by an unseen fish while bathing, and drowned.
Mr. Lee was in the water with Miss Beatrice Appleton (@ Birmingham bank clerk), and the tide carried them out farther than they intended. Miss Appleton turned back and almost immediately Mrs. Lee (who was paddling) gaw her husband throw up his hands and heard him shout.
The next minute he disappeared. At low water his body was found in a hole, a terrible wound on his left side.
At the inquest Dr. Johns expressed the opinion that Mr. Lee had been attacked by a powerful fish, which had taken a huge bite out of his side under the left arm.
There was ai large ragged wound six inches by five. Six semi-circular tooth marks were plainly visible. Other marks induced the belief that the fish had bitten twice in the same place, getting a firmer hoid the second time.
The retraction of the edges of the skin confirmed the doctor's view formed on the bloodless condition of the body, that, Mr. Lee had been attacked whilst alive.
Once during the war there was a somewhat similar case, Dr. Johns recalled.
The jury returned a verdict of "Accidentally drowned."
DoorisH or Swarx.
Opinion here is that Mr. Lee was attacked by either a powerful dogfish or shark. The former are frequently seen, and sharks occasionally visit the waters during the summer months.
A fisherman said he had seen several dog fish in the neighbourhood during the past fortnight.
A police officer, who assisted in the removal of the body, said he had never seen a body which had been attacked in such a manner. The left arm was almost completely off. There were also small wounds on the chest, but he attributed those to stones on the sea bottom. In his experience om the coast he had seen several bodies which had been worried by dogfish, but in those cases it had apparently been done after death.
The tragedy has caused a profound impression in this pleasant East Yorkshire resort, and very few swimmers have since entered the water. Those who have done so have gone in near the pro-menado om the north side where the sea is much shallower and far less likely to be visited by large fish.
At the south end, where Mr. Lee lost his life the depth of water is greater.
Panis, Sept. 26.—Lord Hardinge, the British Ambassador, left Paris for London to-day.—French Wireless through Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.