George F. Page, 38, stationary fireman, saved Elra H. Burnes, 27, laborer, from drowning, Canisteo, New York, March 9, 1913. Burnes, who could not swim, fell from a trestle into the Canisteo River and drifted with the current, holding to a cake of ice. Page, who was heavily clothed and sweating from his work, swam about 40 feet through deep water across the current, which contained considerable drifting ice, to Burnes. He had a pike pole, which he extended across the cake of ice to Burnes. He tried to make a landing at a point 12 feet from where he reached Burnes, but the bank was too steep. The men drifted 190 feet to a bridge. For a part of that distance Page trod water and used both hands to support Burnes at the opposite end of the pike pole, as the cake of ice got away from them. Men on the bridge lowered the ends of a rope and hoisted Burnes and Page from the water. Page was numb with cold and exhausted, but he recovered. 10279-1171
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