Elliot B. Lang saved Fay Spiker from suffocation, Bronx, New York, January 2. 1967. In the kitchen on the first floor of a two-story brick dwelling occupied by Mrs. Spiker, 65, a large pile of magazines caught fire, and the flames ignited the window curtains. Mrs. Spiker, who was nearly blind, went to the front door, opened it, and returned to the kitchen where the window frame by then was burning and the heat had broken the glass. Elliott, 12, schoolboy, who was walking by the dwelling, saw the smoke and flames and heard Mrs. Spiker screaming. He ran to the open front door and entered a hall, which was completely filled with smoke. Running along the hall, Elliot tripped over the telephone cord but continued a total of 20 feet to a connecting hall which led to the kitchen. Forced to inhale some smoke, he began coughing. Elliot continued to the kitchen doorway, where Mrs. Spiker was standing within six feet of the spreading flames. Heat was intense. Elliot took hold of Mrs. Spiker, who panicked and began kicking and striking him. Maintaining his hold despite her struggles, Elliot led her 25 feet through the smoke-filled hall and out of the dwelling. Firemen arrived and extinguished the flames.
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