Charles S. Richardson
correspondent · active 1908
The man who, in a signed letter to the Democratic Messenger of 8 August 1908, publicly demanded that Ocean City employ life guards. Writing a week after Dr. E. W. Crowe of Baltimore drowned in waist-deep water off Showell's bathhouse with several people watching, he argued that the Life-Saving Station crew — "as fine a set of men as can be found in the Life Saving Service on the whole Atlantic Coast" — could not lawfully act as beach guards, and asked "why is it that the employment of the life guard at Ocean City has been discontinued?" His letter is the earliest evidence the campaign has that the town had once paid swimmers to watch the bathing, and the earliest public call for what became, twenty-two years later, the Ocean City Beach Patrol.
In the record (1)
1908 · 1908-08-02
A Baltimore dentist drowns in waist-deep water off Showell's bathhouse, and a letter to the county paper asks why Ocean City no longer employs a life guard.
Dr. E. W. Crowe, "a prominent young dentist, of Baltimore," drowned in the surf at Ocean City on Sunday 2 August 1908 in front of Showell's bathhouse; his body was recovered on Monday. He had told his friends he wanted to ride one more breaker after they went in; nobody saw him struggle, and "the water where Dr. Crowe was drowned was waist deep. He could not swim and was not out beyond the danger line." The following week the Democratic Messenger printed a letter over the name of Charles S. Richardson under the head "Life Guards Needed": "I ask permission to call the attention of the public … to the condition of affairs at Ocean City relative to the entire absence of any provisions for rendering assistance to bathers who may be in danger of drowning in the surf. On last Sunday morning a prominent young dentist of Baltimore City was drowned in about three feet of water in sight of several persons on the beach, and no one apparently made the slightest effort to prevent this fearful accident. Why? Because it seemed nobody's business to act in the matter." Richardson was careful about the life-savers — "we know the Life Saving Station crew of Ocean City and can say that they are as fine a set of men as can be found in the Life Saving Service on the whole Atlantic Coast, but they have specific duties to perform under regulations of the United States Government, and it is impracticable and impossible for them to render efficient service as life guards." And then the sentence that matters most: "The time was when one or two capable swimmers were kept constantly on watch during the bathing period, and upon more than one occasion their prompt action saved the lives of bathers … Why is it that the employment of the life guard at Ocean City has been discontinued? A promising young life has been lost and a home plunged into sorrow and grief, all because somebody … has failed to expend the small sum per month that would be necessary for the employment of a patrol." So Ocean City had paid beach guards at some point before 1908, dropped them, and was being publicly shamed for it — twenty-two years before the Ocean City Beach Patrol was founded in 1930.
United States Life-Saving ServiceOcean City Beach Patrol
Source · checked 2026-08-06