Donald Jackson Smith died attempting to save Marjorie R. Schubert from drowning, Liberty Mills, Indiana, May 11, 1935. Marjorie, 11, fell from a ledge of a retaining wall that extended at a right angle from one end of a dam in the Eel River and drifted in a swirling current 12 feet from the wall and 25 feet below the dam. Wadable water extended less than five feet from the wall, and there were swirls and eddies for 10 feet from the wall. Smith, 37, automobile assembler, who had been advised by physicians not to engage in strenuous exercise, ran to the wall. Although urged by others not to enter the water, Smith, almost fully clothed, lowered himself over the wall to the ledge, flung himself forward on his chest, made four or five strokes, and grasped Marjorie’s hair. He turned to face the wall, and almost immediately he released her, swam weakly, and called for help. A youth threw a pole within Smith’s reach. Smith threshed feebly, made no effort to get hold of the pole, was momentarily submerged, and then sank. He and Marjorie were drowned.
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