First Drowning Victim Claimed

Leon Siegrist, 13, Is Dead In Accident At Municipal Beach Here

The Snake river yesterday afternoon claimed its first swimming victim in the Lewiston region when Leon Siegrist, 13, Sixteenth street, lost his life at the Lewiston municipal beach.

His body was recovered from four feet of water a short time after Siegrist's companions had missed him and notified Beach Supervisor-Life Guard James Evans. Apparently he made no struggle when he went under within a yard of the log boom marking the area beyond which it is considered unsafe for non-swimmers.

Evans pulled five girls, in groups of two and three, from the water while the search for the drowned youth was in progress.

"Shorty" Miller, a swimmer at the beach, found Siegrist's body in the shallow water doubled up in a fashion Evans said indicated that the boy had suffered a stomach cramp. The beach supervisor administered artificial respiration to Siegrist until Chief Dick Gill and a fire department crew arrived with an inhalator. They worked about 45 minutes attempting to revive the boy without results.

In Water 20 Minutes

It was not known how long the boy had been in the water before his body was recovered, but Evans said it probably had been about 20 minutes. He estimated the time of the drowning at about 3:30.

The body was taken from the water about 150 feet west of the lifeguard stand Evans had occupied. No one saw the boy go down or struggle in the water.

Just as he was missed and Evans was preparing to direct the search, a girl almost in front of the lifeguard stand went under and came up again to grasp a companion in a strangle-hold. He pulled them from the water and a minute later three girls began struggling in the stream a short distance away. He also pulled them out. Evans said that in the confusion resulting from the search for the Siegrist boy he did not obtain their names.

Rites To Be Saturday

The youth is survived by his mother, Mrs. Myrtle Siegrist; a brother, Jack Siegrist, Kellogg; two sisters, Mrs. Elna Walker, Clarkston, and Arlene Siegrist, Lewiston. The family had resided here three years after moving from Kellogg.