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- Drowned in Brown's River - Herman Gordon Tried to Save Woman Who Fell From His Moored Cabin Cruiser - Herman Gordon, 41, of Fairview Avenue, Bayport, a well know garage operator in Sayville, was accidently drowned in Brown's River, in the early hours of Tuesday morning when he attempted to save a woman companion who had tumbled from the deck of his 30-foot cabin cruiser moored at the new county dock on the Bayport side of the waterway.
The tragedy came to light shortly after two o'clock in the morning when a woman's screams awakened occupants of homes of the Sayville side of the creek. The screams continued for five or ten minutes and then died down as a woman's figure disappeared in an easterly direction along the Seaman Avenue loop which borders the river at a point opposite Heyboer's shipyard.
She was Mrs. Pauline H. Jacobs, 28, of 18 Terrell Street, Patchogue, a registered nurse at Southside Hospital, who attracted the attention of a passing motorist and was rushed to the Sayville Courthouse where she told an incoherent story to Constable John Hoost. The latter hurried to the scene after notifying Chief Richard N. Tucker, Lieut. Ben Gaiser and Patrolman Michael Turoczi of the Islip Town Police Department.
Chief Tucker and Patrolman Turoczi arrived at the point where Gordon's boat was moored but could find no trace of him. In the open cabin of the "Rosemary", a cruiser painted white and blue trim, they found a pair of woman's white sandals, and draped over the over the bulkhead about five feet from the stern of the boat was watersoaked shirt, evidently discarded by Mrs. Jacobs as she emerged from the creek. Seventy-five feet off the bow of the moored craft a life-preserver was floating. The police also found evidence that Mrs. Jacobs and Gordon had been drinking, which may have accounted for Gordon's failure to save himself.
While Mrs. Jacobs was receiving emergency treatment for shock at the courthouse by Dr. Warren H. Eller, a message was sent to the Town Hall for delivery of grappling irons which arrived at the scene of the tragedy shortly thereafter. By dawn, however, Gordon's body had not been recovered.
Chief Tucker then drove to West Sayville to enlist the services of three baymen, Jacob Locker, John M. Locker, and Jacob Beebe, who went to Sayville in a clamboat and grappled for the body with clam tongs. Mr. Gordon's body was found by them in about 12 feet of water directly off the stern of his boat at 6:50 o'clock. He was pronounced dead by Dr. Eller and the body removed to Raynor's Funeral Chapel under orders of Coroner Marshall W. Brown.
As police reconstruct the story, Gordon and his companion were aboard the moored vessel shortly after two o'clock when in some manner yet unexplained Mrs. Jacobs fell overboard. It is believed that Gordon, a poor swimmer, first tossed the life preserver overboard, and that failing, jumped overboard to help the woman or fell over attempting to lift her aboard the boat.
Mrs. Jacobs, it is believed, succeeded in climbing to safety by means of the ropes between the stern of Gordon's boat and the bulkhead and became hysterical when Gordon failed to re-appear. Her screams were heard from some distance, awakening some people as far away as the west side of Foster Avenue. A wrist watch on her arm had been stopped by action of the water at 2:10 o'clock while Gordon's watch had stopped at 2:15 o'clock.
Gordon, who had owned and operated the Modern Auto Service on South Main Street and Foster Avenue for a number of years was an aviation and boating enthusiast. A little more than a year ago, he was seriously burned about the face and arms in a gasoline explosion aboard a boat while renovating behind his garage. It is believed that he met Mrs. Jacobs while a patient at Southside Hospital.
He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Sophie Koplinka Gordon; two children, Richard and Rosemary; his father, Robert Gordon, of Bay Shore, a brother, Walter of East Moriches, and a sister, Mrs. Walter Bruggeman of Bay Shore. Funeral services were held at two o'clock yesterday afternoon at Raynor's Chapel with the Rev. Joseph H. Bond, rector of St. Ann's Episcopal Church, officiating. Interment was in the family plot in Cedar Grove Cemetery, Patchogue.
After his death, his wife, Sophie, took over his garage business and ran it. She remarried three years later to Charles Norman and took up residence at 25 Bohack Court, Sayville.
(Long Island Surnames; 1920, 1940 US Federal Census; Patchogue Advance , Thursday, June 30, 1949, Page: 1; Suffolk County News (Sayville), Friday, July 01, 1949, Page: 1)
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1907 - 1949 (41 years)