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Dr. J. A. Geis, Essex County coroner, gave a verdict of accidental death in the case of Knut Raustad, 30, who died on top of one of the small mountains north of Whitney a few hours after he was found by the ski patrol Monday.

The coroner stated at the inquest Tuesday night at the town hall that after hearing the testimony of a dozen witnesses, he believed that the Norwegian merchant marine, here on holiday to ski, had bled to death having cut off the left radial artery in his wrist while attempting to cut branches to make a bed.

After an 18-hour search started Sunday night, when it went to 25 degrees below zero after Raustad was reported missing at the Mirror Lake Inn, Ronald MacKenzie and Colin Soule found him in semi-delirious condition at 1 p.m. Monday, and he died at 5 p.m. before the equipment arrived for his removal.

MacKenzie said there are no ski or hiking trails on the mountain where Raustad was found and that he and Soule after sidestepping the mountain for almost three hours on skis took them off as Raustad’s tracks led through narrow rock passages and the ice-covered crevices were too narrow to negotiate on skis. The seaman had made the climb on foot after leaving his skis and pole 75 feet off the trail near McLenathan Bay.

MacKenzie and Soule found him propped up against a log and at first assumed that he had hurt himself on one of its jagged branches as they noticed a small amount of blood. After a quick examination, before MacKenzie started back to town for the ski sled to bring him down, they bandaged his wrist. Packing a hole in the snow, they laid skis under him and wrapped him in blankets.

When they believed the man to be dying, Soule said, he and Stanley Benham, who with others had joined the party, gave him artificial respiration.

When all agreed that he was dead, they lashed him to a toboggan and had started down the slope when they met MacKenzie’s party coming up with the ski sled after having packed with the snowshoes the easiest course to come down.

The Norwegian’s body was brought down the mountain on the ski sled to McLenathan Bay, where a team and a sled were waiting to take it to Schwartz camp, where Dr. George C. Owens and the Clark ambulance were also waiting, believing that the skier was still alive.

The cortege reached the village at 9 p.m. and the body was taken to Clark’s funeral home. It was shipped to Brooklyn where it will be cremated at the Forest Pond Crematory Queens.

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‘Lake Placid’ film

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H. L. Garren, executive secretary of the North Elba Park Commission, has received a telegram from Herbert J. Yates of Republic Pictures that a camera crew will arrive in this village from Hollywood on Monday or Tuesday to film a picture to be called “Lake Placid.”

The idea of using the name of this resort as a motion picture title and of laying the scene of a feature picture here was first discussed last fall when Mr. Garren was in conversation at Whiteface Inn with Mr. Yates and Vera Hruba, who were vacationing here.

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Archives

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To explore the Lake Placid News digital archives, visit the NYS Historic Newspapers website at nyshistoricnewspapers.org. Find the Lake Placid News by clicking on Essex County.