Oakland Tribune, Tuesday Evening, July 7, 1896, Page 2, Column 5

              Sank in Blair Pond

William Leach, a Seventeen Year Old
                    Lad Is Drowned
            HE COULD SWIM WELL
        The Treacherous Pool Though
             Got Him in Its Embrace

          HIS COMPANIONS WATCHED

They Saw Him Die and Were Powerless to Save Him

The mysterious Blair pond in the hills of Piedmont is responsible for another fatality. This time it has buried beneath its dark waters the body of little Willie Leach, the only son of a widow.
The youth had been spending a four-day vacation with the Murphy boys who live on Seventeenth and Brush Streets. Together the three lads started out this morning for a day's outing in the hills. It being warm, a proposition to take a swim in the pond, met approval and the lads were soon sporting about in the water. All three could swim well and no one thought of danger until Willie Leach gave a startled cry and called for assistance.
He was then in the center of the lake, just over the spot where the cold current sweeps by.
The Murphy boys made an immediate effort to reach their companions, but before they realized the situation, young Leach raised his hands above his head and sunk from sight. The body did not again appear on the surface.
The sorrowing comrades hastily donned their clothes and came to town to tell the sad news. Benjamin Arlett, at whose home the boys lived, organized a party this afternoon and dragged the lake for the body, not up to a late hour were [they] successful.
Willie Leach was seventeen years old and has been employed by the Schmidt Lithograph and Label Company. His widowed mother works in the Stanley Hotel at Mission San Jose.
The pond, in which the young fellow met his death, has a record for drowning more people than any other similar sized sheet of water in the county. Each year adds new victims to the list and there has not been a coroner in Oakland since 1876 who has not been obliged to chronicle several deaths from this source.
The place was formerly a stone quarry, but during some blasting, a big torrent of water burst forth, completely filling in the hollow. The water is very cold and lacks in buoyancy.
It is supposed young Leach was attacked with cramps, induced by the cold current into which he had plunged, for as he was a good swimmer, there was no other known reason why he should drown.
The mysterious pond is located to the right of the gravity-loop on the Piedmont cable road. It is not more than five hundred yards south of the entrance to Blair Park and is just below the Blair Ranch property.

Record-Union, Wednesday, July 8, 1896, Page 8, Image 8, Column 2
                    Boy Drowned
OAKLAND, July 7 - William Leach, aged 17 years, was drowned this afternoon at Blair Park, the famous pleasure resort on the Piedmont Hills. He was the son of a widow who lives on the corner of Seventeenth and Brush Streets in this city.

San Francisco Call, Wednesday, July 8, 1896, Page 13 Column 1

              DROWNED IN THE LAKE OF
                              MYSTERY

Willie Leach Meets the Fatal Current in
                    Blair's Pond
         A WIDOW'S ONLY SON

     Was Enjoying a Holiday With
Friends When the Fatality Occurred

      A VERITABLE DEATH TRAP

    The Warning to Bathers Seems to
Have Been Regarded as an Invitation

OAKLAND OFFICE SAN FRANCISCO CALL - July 7, 1896
The lake of mystery near the Blair ranch in the Piedmont hills has claimed another victim. William Leach, a boy 16 years of age, was drowned this morning while bathing in the lake.
Young Leach was the only child of a widowed mother, who is at present employed as a domestic by James Stanley at Mission San Jose. The boy lived with the Arlett family on Brush Street and worked for a lithographing firm. Being a legal holiday the lad was visiting in Piedmont, where he formerly resided.
Leach and some other lads went hunting this morning, and while his companion hunted around the lake Willie decided to take a swim. When his companion saw Leach sinking he tried to throw a plank to him, but he could not reach it. No one else was near and Leach drowned before assistance could be summoned.
In the center of the lake there is a very cold current, and whenever a swimmer reaches it he is invariably seized with cramps. The lake is a veritable trap and has claimed more victims during its short existence than any other sheet of water in the county.
About eight years ago there was a stone quarry in the hills. The workmen were at their noontide meal when they heard a great noise. Where a blast had just taken place a great body of water rushed up from the earth. The men had barely time to escape, and their tools and wagons were speedily submerged.
The carts and implements are still at the bottom of the lake, which has remained permanently. The sheet of water is just about an acre in area and is very deep in the middle. Over where the spring is supposed to be there is an icy current and every year since the quarry in the hills became a lake it has claimed some victims.
There is a notice posted near the lake warning bathers that it is dangerous to go into the water, but so far the warning seems to have been regarded in the light of an invitation.
The body of young Leach has not yet been recovered, but friends will drag the lake. The mysterious pond is located to the right of the gravity-loop of the Piedmont cable road. It is about a quarter of a mile south of the entrance to Blair Park.

San Francisco Chronicle, Wednesday, July 8, 1896, Page 14, Column 4
          
TO DEATH IN THE MYSTERIOUS POND

    SAD FATE OF WILLIAM LEACH

ONE MORE ON THE LONG LIST OF
                  VICTIMS

A Young Oaklander Is Caught in
    The Piedmont Death-Trap

Oakland Branch Office of the - Chronicle
OAKLAND, July 7 - The mysterious pond in the Piedmont hills has claimed another victim in the person of William Leach, a sixteen-year-old boy, who sank to his death in its strange depths this morning. The body was recovered later in the day, much to the surprise of those who were searching for it.
The drowning was a strange one. Leach swam out into deep water, and, without any warning cry that he was cramped or in distress, threw up his hands and went down. His companions could have aided him, no doubt, had there been an opportunity.
The lad had been spending a few days in Piedmont as the guest of a family named Murphy, and this morning went hunting with the Murphy boys, William and John. Their course was up through the hills, and, as the morning was warm, they decided to go to the pond for a swim. Leach was a strong swimmer and was soon well out in the lake. Suddenly he was seen to throw up his hands and sink from view. William Murphy threw a large piece of wood toward the point where the lad sank, but it was a wasted effort. Leach had previously been diving, and there was a hope for a time that he would reappear, but it was vain.
Leach's body was found late this afternoon P. Stolle, the expert diver of the Piedmont Baths, whose services were enlisted by the friends of the young man. It was in twenty-five feet of water, and was secured with great difficulty. Even after it was located there was great trouble in bringing it to the surface and getting it ashore on account of the steepness of the bank.
Leach was employed by the Schmidt Label and Lithographing Company, and, with the other employees, was given a four days holiday on Friday last. He made his home with the family of Benjamin Arlett at 1315 Brush Street, this city, but decided to spend his vacation with the Murphy boys, with whom he was on intimate terms. His mother, who is a widow, lives at Mission San Jose, where she is employed in a hotel. She will be notified by wire of her son' death. Leach was raised in Oakland, and was well known among the younger people of the city.
The mysterious pond has a wonderful history. Prior to 1872 it did not exist, but in that year a quarry was opened on the Blair estate. The stone from it was excellent for building purposes, and the quarry was speedily developed. Deep development work was begun when the first deposits uncovered had been cleared away. A giant blast was prepared, and, when it was exploded, there came a mighty rush of water from the bowels of the earth. The laborers were driven from their work and forced to fly to save their lives. The subterranean flow continued until shaft, quarry and ravine had been filled with water. The pond has existed ever since, and, though there is no overflow to give the water movement, yet it is always fresh.
The pond has claimed many victims, not a few of whom are said to have found sepulture in its icy depths. The lake is hidden in a deep ravine and cannot be seen a quarter of a mile away in any direction. Its banks are very abrupt, except at one end. The water is dark, almost black and boulders only a few feet under the surface cannot be seen. The pond is further hidden by trees and a growth of bushes, and so well is it sheltered that the water is usually too cold for swimming.

San Francisco Call, Thursday, July 9, 1896, Page 13 Column 6

          A Body Recovered

OAKLAND, Cal., July 8 - P. Stole, a swimming teacher, located the body of William Leach in the Blair quarry and brought it to the surface.
He dived several times to the bottom of the pond before his efforts were successful.
The boy's mother is now with a friend, Mrs. Sturrock of 1020 Adeline Street, and is nearly prostrated with grief. An inquest was held tonight. The boy was a native of Leeds, England.

Oakland Tribune, Saturday Evening, July 11, 1896, Page 7, Column 3

            Leach's Funeral

The funeral of Willie Leach, the lad drowned in Blair Pond, was held Thursday from Oak Chapel, Glen Echo . The pall bearers were Robert Murphy, Edward Hume, Lafayette Ream [Reom], Herman Schutt, George Irvine and Benjamin Larkin. They were Willie's class mates.

San Francisco Chronicle, Saturday, July 11, 1896, Page 10, Column 6

          William Leach Buried

OAKLAND, July 10 - William Leach, who met a tragic death in the mysterious pond near Blair Park Monday, was buried yesterday afternoon from the Oak Chapel in Glen Echo. Rev. Dr. Freeland of the First Congregational Church officiated and the pallbearers chosen from among his classmates were Robert Murphy, Edward Hume, Lafayette Ream, Herman Schutt, George Irvine and Benjamin Larkin.

San Francisco Call, July 11, 1896, Page 13, Image 13, Column 4

          Leach Funeral

OAKLAND, Cal., July 10 - The body of Willie Leach, who was drowned in Blair's quarry several days ago, was interred in Mountain View Cemetery this afternoon. His clans-mates acted as pall-bearers, and presented a floral pillow bearing the words: "Our Secretary B.B.C. O. C."