"Hallelujah Chorus."

Horowhenua Chronicle, 2 April 1914, Page 4

"Hallelujah Chorus."

The yrmuaplione come in useful during , ;i record swim of the champion cripple athlete "Skipper"" Francis, in the Bristol channel . The fifteen-mile effort was a tremendous strain on the swimmer, who was in the water lor I hours and '-YZ minutes. Before he had been swimming an hour in the ice-cold water, his withered ley became useless from the knee downwards. Nevertheless "Skipper"" Francis stuck gamely u> his self-imposed task, trying many different kinds of strokes to. gain relief from muscular fatigue. Two thousand people were aboard the special steamer which ran from Cardiff (the great steam coal shipping port) to the start, and the swimmer was followed by a launch, on which was installed a big grainaphono. This was kept going continuously. Erancis, as a trueborn Welshman is a great •musiclovcr, and he Avas spurred oil to a successful finish to the strains of the "Hallelujah Chorus." The camera-man was handy, a magnifieient scries of films of the swim and the. interesting incidents associated with it being taken. He describes the big swim, and also sings effectively.