George B. Young, 23, student, attempted to save Adele Sherburne, 79, from suffocation, Eureka, California, February 23, 1949. At night, an electric iron set afire the bed of Mrs. Sherburne in the rear of a one-story house occupied by her and another woman, and dense smoke filled her bedroom and kitchen adjacent to it. The other woman was asleep in a room at the front of the house. Young was attracted by smoke and alighted from his automobile. He ran to the front porch and, finding the door locked, lunged against it and broke it open. He entered and carried the other woman to the sidewalk. Informed of the location of Mrs. Sherburne, he again entered the house and groping along a hallway reached her bedroom. Young became nauseated by the smoke and ran outdoors coughing violently. After breaking the windows of the bedroom with a plank, he entered the kitchen from the side porch but was forced to return outdoors by the smoke. He then climbed through a window, suffering minor cuts from broken glass, and reached the bedroom. He groped over the bed but could not find Mrs. Sherburne. He returned to the kitchen, which then was free of smoke for two feet above the floor. He found Mrs. Sherburne lying inert on the floor and carried her from the house. Firemen arrived and extinguished flames. Mrs. Sherburne could not be revived. Young was tired and nauseated and had difficulty breathing but recovered. 3656-41914
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