Peter Grau
Cincinnati Enquirer, Monday, 9 August 1909, page 14
PADDLE WHEEL OFF ISLAND QUEEN
Peter Grau, 30, a boiler maker, residing at 735 German street,
Newport, was drowned and Edward Yung, 11, residing at 730 German street, Newport
had a narrow escape from death yesterday afternoon, when the frail little skiff
which they occupied was struck by the paddle wheel of the Island Queen
near Shumate's Ferry, Bellevue.
Grau and Yung had gone up the river for the purpose of taking a swim, and Grau had left his clothes on the shore and had donned a bathing suit. Grau was rowing and as the Island Queen passed he guided the boat close to the steamboat, notwithstanding the warnings shouted to him by Captain Dupree to keep a safe distance away. As the Queen swept past Grau, in his eagerness to get in close behind the boat, and thus ride the rollers, rowed his skiff under the paddle wheels.
The paddle struck the skiff and its occupants, demolishing the skiff and striking Grau in such a manner that he was knocked unconscious. Yung was more fortunate, The buckets on the Queen's big wheel struck him on the shoulder and knocked him out for in the rear of the steamer as she passed up the river.
Anthony Langhammer, who resides on Crescent avenue, in Covington, happened to be close by in a launch and witnesses the accident. He pulled in behind the Queen and grabbed Yung as he was down down for the last time. He hauled him into the launch and brought him to the Bellevue shore, where he was resuscitated and then sent to his home in a carriage. He was badly bruised about the shoulders. Grau's body was not recovered. He leaves a widow and two children.