Robert Donald Scott saved Cathrine G. Herndon from drowning, Clarkston, Washington, June 16, 1968. A pickup truck driven by their mother and containing Cathrine, five months, her brother Steven A. Herndon, and their six-year-old sister rolled down a steep bank into the Snake River, where it began drifting downstream in the strong current. Scott, 31, structural ironworker, and Douglas Keith Harris were driving by and learned of the situation. Each removed his shoes and entered the water. Scott swam to Cathrine, who then was just beneath the surface in water about eight feet deep 100 feet from the bank. Towing Cathrine across the current, Scott tired; and by the time he reached the bank he had been carried 900 feet downstream. Meanwhile Harris had begun swimming toward the mother but had decided she was drifting too fast. He returned to the bank, ran 600 feet along it, and re-entered the water. Harris swam to near the mother and then noticed Steven ten feet away, floating just under the surface. Swimming to Steven, who was 100 feet from the bank in water seven to eight feet deep, Harris began towing him across the current. By the time he reached the bank, Harris had been carried downstream 750 feet and was fatigued. Cathrine recovered. Steven could not be revived. The mother and her other daughter drowned.
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