Friday, March 3, 2017

Austin Hero, Lawrence R. Koth, Remembered


On January 30, 1926, Boy Scout Lawrence R. Koth, age 15, Austin, Pennsylvania, rescued Charles McCloskey, age 8, from drowning. 

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, New York, Sunday, November 28, 1926, published the following article:

Boy Scout News
 Stories of Cool Heroism by Boy Scouts Contained in Awards for Life- Saving

"McCloskey was skating on the site of the former Austin dam, scene of a great flood a few years ago.  He broke through and the current carried him under the ice. Koth went into the water also and a third boy fell in.  Koth pushed the third boy to the edge of the ice, where he was hauled out, and then got McCloskey from under the ice and held him until he in turn could be rescued.  At this end, he was himself was drawn from the water."

Not only would Koth receive a National Court of Honor Certificate by the Boy Scouts of America for his bravery, but also a Bronze Medal and $1,600 from The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission.

To view the remains of the Austin dam ruins mentioned in the article, Click HERE.

Recommended Reading: 1911 - The Austin Flood - by Paul W. Heimel, Knox Books, 407 Mill Street, Coudersport, PA 16915


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