Arthur Ryan, 14, student, saved Henry J. Ethier and attempted to save J. Lawrence Sullivan, both 15, factory hands, from drowning, Fall River, Massachusetts, January 19, 1919. Henry and Lawrence broke through thin ice while walking on Cook Pond 290 feet from the bank, where the water was 20 feet deep. Henry broke about 10 feet of ice in his efforts to climb out. A boy started to the hole with a pole but became frightened before he reached the hole, and Arthur took the pole and from a point five feet from the edge of the hole extended it to Henry. Henry grasped the pole and was drawn up on the ice. Arthur then went closer to the hole and extended the pole to Lawrence, but before he could grasp it, the ice broke under Arthur, and he sank under the surface. He rose and swam to the edge of the hole. Lawrence sank and was drowned. Arthur’s gloved hands froze to the ice, and after being in the hole for 25 minutes, a man arrived with a rope, which he flung to Arthur. Arthur’s hands were so numb that he was unable to take hold of the rope, and he seized it between his teeth and was drawn out of the hole. He was exhausted and could not stand and was dragged some distance over the ice and assisted to the bank. 19438-1649
19438 – 1649
19438-1649