Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2022 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== Lansing State Journal 5 July, 1929 TEN KILLED IN SHORT TIME WHEN UNDERTOW AT GRAND HAVEN LURES BATHERS INTO DEEP WATER; SIX DIE IN LAKES AND RIVERS NEAR DETROIT THOUSANDS WITNESS DISASTERS. GRAND HAVEN, Mich., July 5 (AP) The vicious surf and undertow of wind-swept Lake Michigan took the lives of 10 persons here Thursday, all drowning virtually simultaneously and within a radius of but a few hundred yards. It was decided Friday to hold an inquest into the deaths of the 10 victims. Coast guardsmen denied that there were 11 drownings and say that the report of another Detroiter having been discovered is erroneous. Nine of the dead were bathers at a municipal park beach; the other was a girl who was swept from a pier by a giant breaker and into the water. All Hear Screams While three life guards struggled against the pounding waves to pull the struggling girl in the water to safety, a terrific undertow, ap- parently generated by the huge wave which first swept the pier, carried the nine bathers to their deaths. Hundreds of persons ashore, gay holiday nicnickers and bathers basking in a warm sun, watched horror stricken as the nine were whirled screaming for help, far out into the white-capped lake. The dead are MILDRED FIFIELD, 19; ROBERT SHINDLER, 19; JULIUS TUSCH, 19; LEONARD KELLOGG, 20; CARL RONLOFF, 21; WALTER SCHWARTZ, 19; JOHN GIDDINGS, 21; FRANK PETRUSKE, 40; RUDOLPH PITULIK, 22; ERWIN PITULIK, 21. Two From Detroit All were residents of Grand Rapids except the latter two, brothers, who were from Detoir. Bodies of four were recovered, but lake shore residents said it might be days before bodies of the others were washed ashore. The three guards stationed at the beach launched a boat, after pulling from the water the four swept off the pier, in an attempt to rescue the nine struggling outside the surf line but their smaill craft foundered before fairly under way. Miss FIFIELD was among the four on the pier. Attempts to revive her through artificial respiration failed. Guards say they warned all bathers as they en- tered the water that the surf and undertow made it unsafe to swim far out, but that the nine swimmers drowned disregarded the caution and were pulled under while attempting to regain shore after swim- ming to a raft anchored off the beach. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: This event was a meteotsunami. The National Weather Service says " Like an earthquake generated tsunami, a meteotsunami affects the entire water column and can become dangerous when it hits shallow water, which causes it to slow down and increase in height and intensity. Even greater magnification can occur in semi-enclosed water bodies like harbors, inlets, and bays". A series of giant waves caused by weather events, such as sudden drops in air pressure and heavy winds. ===========================================================================