Charles Melvin Wood, 23, mail carrier, attempted to save E. Ray Ashby, 14, schoolboy, from suffocation, New Castle, Indiana, October 23, 1931. After seeing a man drawn out of the well unconscious or dazed, Wood volunteered to enter. City firemen wished Wood to wait until a rope could be obtained to tie to him, but he refused. Putting on a smoke mask, Wood sat in a loop of the windlass rope and was lowered to the bottom of the well. He placed Ray on his lap between himself and the rope and removed the mask to call to be hoisted. After being hoisted an undetermined distance, he was overcome, and he and Ray fell to the bottom. Efforts to rescue Wood by means of a lowered ladder that had a hook on the end were unsuccessful. Air was pumped into the well, and then another man tied to a rope was lowered. He put a rope around Wood and himself, and they were drawn out. Wood was unconscious, but he revived. He was somewhat injured by the hook of the lowered ladder and was disabled ten days. (See case of PAUL J. BURNS.)
32147 – 2610
32147-2610