Albert Henry Leach
Feb. 9, 1917-June 30, 1927
Niles Daily Star (Niles, Berrien Co., MI), Thursday, July 7, 1927, page 1, col. 2, microfilm Niles District Library
FIND BODY OF LEACH BOY ABOUT 8 MILES DOWN THE RIVER
Police Patrolman After Constant Search Sees Portion of Body in Stream
FLOATED UNDER WATER
Think Youth was Carried Away From Fatal Spot Immediately
The body of Albert Leach, 10, son of Mr. and Mrs. Adrian Leach, drowned last Thursday in the St. Joseph river, was found last evening about 7 o'clock, floating in the river eight miles below the spot where he went down. The body was found by Police Officer Carl Voelkers and Walter Simmer. The body was floating toward the dam at Buchanan about a mile above the dam, and would probably have soon gone over the dam had it not been discovered by the police officer and Mr. Zimmer.
It is thought that the body was immediately carried down stream by the current, rather than that it was lodged in the weeds near where the lad went down. The condition of the body indicated that it probably had come to the surface yesterday. Marks on the body indicated that it had come in contact with heavy objects which broke the flesh.
The body was brought back up the river by the police officer and Mr. Zimmer in the motor boat they were using and which belonged to Dr. J.G. Brodie. When they reached Niles about 8 o'clock an ambulance was called and the body was taken at once to the vault in Silver Brook cemetery. This afternoon a committal service was conducted by Rev. John Schurman, pastor of the Evangelical church.
Each day since the search and dragging work was abandoned at the scene of the drowning near the sandbar in the river almost directly across the stream from the foot of Marmont street, members of the Niles police department have been patrolling the river between Niles and Buchanan in motor boats, in an attempt to locate the body as soon as it came to the surface.
This morning Officer Voelkers stated that when the body was discovered, floating along the stream Wednesday evening, only a small portion of it was above the surface. That lead him to believe that the body had not risen to the surface earlier than Wednesday afternoon, possibly only an hour or less than before it was found.
Albert was one of the eight children of Mr. and Mrs. Leach. He was born in Niles in February 1917. Besides his parents and brothers and sisters he is survived by his grandmothers, Mrs. Rachel Leach, Grant street, and Mrs. William Pierce, 615 N. Third street.
Note: There were additional articles in the Niles Daily Star, page 1, on July 1, 2 and 5, 1927, regarding the drowning and search efforts.