In 1899, Dr. "Ben" Churchill married Lillian Dangers, daughter of Burghard & Helen (Von Frankenberg) Dangers of Neillsville, Wisconsin. She was a graduate of the Neillsville high school in 1894. After attending the Whitewater Normal school and the University of Wisconsin she taught school for a number of years in the Neillsville Public schools. She was a woman of high intelligence and devoted to cultural interests. The had two daughters, Mrs. Alex Cappon and Mrs. Malcolm Proudfoot, both of them lived in Chicago and a son, Dr. Bernard P. Churchill of Milwaukee.

 

 

HOW TO AVERT DROWNING by Benn P. Churchill--The diamond drill, (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996; 29 June 1912

 

So-Called Cramps Nothing More than Water Choke, Says Doctor.

 

Above all keep your head. Don't try to save yourself. Save your strength for attracting attention to your condition.

 

Remember hundreds of swimmers lose their lives annually because they do not understand the danger of their position.

 

Swimmers drown from water choke not from cramps.

 

To relieve the attack take the swimmer to shore and keep his head and body down, thus relieving the choke. Swimmers drown from water choker' "tramps" can save themselves if they understand the nature of the attack and how to overcome it, according to Benn P. Churchill, who is a practicing physician at Milwaukee and who has devoted years of study to this subject.

Dr. Churchill maintains that a swimmer does not drown from cramps, as is generally believed, but from water choke which closes the respiratory organs and make It impossible for the swimmer to make known his condition, a he does not realize it until it is too late.

The water choke Dr. Churchill says, is caused by the water getting between the true and false vocal cords, causing them to come together thus closing the air passages completely.

 

Swimmers when they get in this condition make desperate efforts to save themselves, but can go but a few feet before they sink.

 

"The swimmer does "not realize how powerless he is to combat with this condition in the water," says Dr. Churchill, "and this is what causes him to drown. If he could realize it, he would use the little strength remaining in him to attract the attention of others to his condition thus enabling them to save him."

 

"There is nothing so little understood by the people at large as that condition which Suddenly overtakes a swimmer and causes him to sink with out warning.

 

"For hundreds of years these hitherto unaccountable drowning accidents have been ascribed to 'cramps' and no scientific; attempt seems to have been made to discover the real cause. In the first place, every known fact of medical science stands against this 'cramp idea and explanation.

"Now, what are the symptoms? "From my own observation, the swimmer merely sinks, disappears, or is mist, Ho does not call out. If 'cramps' were the cause, then it is a cramp that affects the entire muscular system. Including the muscles of respiration; for it is true that any good swimmer could save himself with one limb alone were it free from cramp. Such a condition of complete cramp is impossible in the human body, except under the influence of a powerful poison. This brings us to the real explanation of this condition.

"Medical science describes for us a small space or pocket between the true and false vocal cords.

 

These cords are four in number, two on either side of the air passage, and, when they are brought together they form the pocket mentioned. This space Is lined by a membrane many times more sensitive than the eye. The presence of the smallest particle of foreign sub stance other than air in this space will, by reflex action, cause the cords to come together, closing the cavity and air passage completely.

 

'Now. a swimmer is not in his natural element, and if ever so little water enters his sensitive space it will close absolutely, shutting off the air and making it impossible for the victim to call for help. He will exhaust all his energy and last effort to swim to safety, in a manner that will appear to a spectator as very natural, and they seem to take a dive. There, is nothing about the occurrence to arouse suspicion owing to the fact that the public; generally is ignorant of the only real danger begetting a swimmer. These cases are difficult to resuscitate because the victim is nearly drowned when he sinks and it takes time after that to discover there is something wrong, if discovered at all.

 

"It is not an astonishing fact that a swimmer never gets 'cramps' in shallow water? This for the very simple reason that In shallow water the victim can assume a position with the head downward and forward. Of course, he will choke and become cyanosed (turn blue), but this condition of the blood has the power to relax the upper cords when the position is upright, (like a swimmer) or the lower cords that guard the lungs from entrance of a foreign substance.  A man in this condition would die on land if forced to remain upright, as has often occurred in prisons where they administer the water cure.

 

"I contend that a swimmer's safety, depends on his knowing the one teal danger while swimming and knowing what to do when overcome by this accident; namely, to Immediately give warning of his distress and not exhaust all his strength in a vain effort, to save himself. I think seven to ten feet is the limit of the distance he could go under the circumstance."

 

Bio: Churchill, Mrs. B. P. (3-Mar-1900)

 

Surnames: Churchill

 

----Source: Greenwood Gleaner, Greenwood, Wis., 3 Mar 1900, Greenwood Gleaner 5-4-1900, Transcriber: Laurel Bragstad Schaub

 

The Thursday Club meets next week with Mrs. B. P. Churchill. Greenwood Gleaner. 3 Mar 1900

Mrs. B. P. Churchill visited her folks in Neillsville over Sunday. Greenwood Gleaner 4 May 1900

 

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Obit: Churchill, Lillian (1876 - 1934)

 

Obit: Churchill, Dr. Benn Pitman (1865 - 1957)

 

**********************************************
Name Dr Benn P Churchill
Sex Male
Age 92
Event Date 06 Nov 1957
Event Place Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Event Place (Original) Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Death Date 05 Nov 1957
Birthplace Toronto, Canada
Occupation Alderman
Newspaper Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Naturalized in Neillsville, Clark Co., WI 13 Jun 1904

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