Private John J Bierte
Kentucky Post, Wednesday, 5 August 1903, page 5
DROWNED-While exhibiting skill as a swimmer, John J Bierte, 25, a private in Company C Third Infantry, stationed at Ft Thomas, was drowned in the Ohio River near Brent Station Tuesday afternoon. The river is deep at that point and at present is very swift. He was an expert swimmer and was showing his comrades how to float on his back, when he drifted near the Cincinnati Water Works and was carried to a watery grave in a whirlpool.
The soldier appeared only once at the surface of the water and called to his comrades for help, but he was tossed beneath the water again by the whirlpool. A number of soldiers in charge of a Corporal, started in at once to search the river for the body with grappling hooks, but returned without it in the evening.
Bierte enlisted in the Third Infantry one year ago from Massachusetts. The sad news was telegraphed to his parents Tuesday night by the authorities of the post.