George V. Smith, 44, carpenter, died helping to save D. Frank Pugh, 33, supervisor, from suffocation, San Antonio, Texas, April 14, 1917. Pugh and Smith were at a sulphur water well in which some work was being done. The dug part of the well was 13 feet deep and was walled with cement. The water in it was being kept at a depth of 18 inches by means of a steam pump. There was a two-foot curbing of cement around the top of it. Smith had been working in the well, but gas in it had affected his breathing and made him sick, and he refused to continue working. Pugh entered but was affected and started up a ladder that hung from the top, He was overcome halfway up the ladder and fell back. Smith, followed by another man, immediately descended with a rope, but while they were tying it to Pugh, Smith was overcome. The other man finished tying the rope and began ascending but was overcome near the top. He fell and lodged on Pugh, who was then being drawn up by men at the top, and he and Pugh were drawn out together. Pugh was unconscious for 20 minutes and was disabled four days. The man drawn out with him regained consciousness in about a minute and suffered no serious effect. After three other men had made fruitless efforts to rescue Smith, he was taken from the well dead. 17868-1370
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