Driving Lucy (1903 Film) -- Produced By Sagar Mitchell and James Kenyon -- Full Movie

The biggest English comedy hit of the year. The scene is laid on an English estate at the edge of a pond. A couple of laborers discover, protruding from the water a pair of female legs. They hasten to the rescue, secure a bench and a long plank so as to get out over the water to the point where the legs are sticking up. Just as they complete their preparations a policeman runs up and insists on going out to the rescue of the female in distress. He gallantly crawls out on the plank and seizes the shapely ankles. As he lifts up the legs it is apparent that the whole thing is an awful hoax for at the foot of the sham legs is a big sign bearing the word "RATS." To make the joke still stronger, the sign is no sooner out of the water than the plank gives way and the policeman is treated to a ducking in the water -- IMDB