Leslie R. Davis helped to save John A. Probash, Jr., from drowning, Niagara Falls, New York, July 1, 1936. John, 10, and two other boys jumped from a rowboat to land that projected into the Niagara River, and John fell backward into the river and drifted through a sluiceway to the opposite side of the projection and then drifted in a current of six m.p.h. to a point 60 feet from the projection and 300 feet from the river bank, where the water was 20 feet deep. Davis, 25, machine tender, who was fully dressed, ran 320 feet to a point opposite John, dived and swam under water to John, who then was five feet below the surface, and brought him to the surface. Davis tried to tow him toward the projection, but John threw both arms around Davis’s neck, and both were submerged for several seconds. John continued to struggle with Davis, and they drifted farther. Finally Davis called to Sigmund Harrison Skiba for help; and Skiba swam 150 feet from the projection to them, took hold of John’s hair, and stroked to support him. The three drifted 40 feet farther. John grasped Skiba and continued to struggle, they being submerged briefly. With John holding Skiba around the neck from in front, Skiba with great effort swam 135 feet diagonally against the current to water shoulder-deep and then waded to land, Davis following him.
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