Clyde T. German, 19, lineman, rescued Eugene P. Rhodes, Jr., 23, lineman, from electric shock, Mathews, Virginia, July 29, 1929. While Rhodes was sitting on a double crossarm on a pole 20 feet above the ground, his foot got in contact with a switch which was charged with a current of 6,600 volts of electricity, and he was shocked, becoming unconscious, and hung head down from the crossarm with one leg between the two arms. German, whose hands and clothing were damp from perspiration, climbed the pole and took hold of an insulated handle to open the switch, but the switch was locked. Believing that he would be shocked if he touched Rhodes, he struck Rhodes’s foot two sharp blows with the back of his hand and knocked it away from the switch. He sustained a slight shock through his leather glove at each blow. Two other men had climbed the pole by that time, and in attempting to lower Rhodes, one was shocked and became unconscious when Rhodes’s foot accidentally got in contact with the switch. German then received rubber gloves, opened the switch by pulling a copper ring, and lowered the unconscious man to a man on a ladder. The man was revived. Rhodes in the meantime revived and was assisted down the pole.
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