Carl F. A. Olsen, 31, silviculturist, attempted to save Arland L. MacKinney, 34, silviculturist, from drowning, Delacroix Island, Louisiana, July 4, 1938. MacKinney fell from the deck of a moving fishing-boat into Bayou Terre aux Boeuf, his weight pulling Olsen, who had got hold of his belt, into water 11 feet deep 50 feet from the bank. Olsen released his hold, and they rose eight feet apart and drifted from the boat in a current of three m.p.h. MacKinny was submerged. Olsen swam five feet, dived, got hold of MacKinney’s belt, and pulled him to the surface. He tried to swim toward the bank, but MacKinney threw his arms around his neck. Submerging and pulling MacKinney under the surface, Olsen broke the hold; and they rose separately. The boat then had stopped at a point 150 feet from them. Twice again MacKinney threw his arms around Olsen’s neck, and each time Olsen broke the hold under the surface and rose. MacKinney did not rise from the last submersion and was drowned. Olsen trod water for several seconds and then was submerged, except for one arm, and became semiconscious. He was rescued by a man in a rowboat and was revived. He sustained a wrenched back and a cut on a finger, which became infected; and he was disabled for a week.
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