Hayward Wilson, 54, died attempting to save Elizabeth Lane, 74, and three others from drowning, Gray Gables, Massachusetts, September 21, 1938. Two women and a boy were with Mrs. Lane in her home, which faced the Cape Cod Canal and was 200 feet from Buzzards Bay, when the wind rose to 50 m.p.h. The tide rose rapidly. Wilson, who lived on high ground 450 feet from the bay, knew the rising tide would bring still higher water. Wind and water conditions became worse, and he noted water three to four feet deep move in waves for 275 feet from the normal shore of the bay and close to the Lane house. Clinging to bushes and trees because of the wind, Wilson walked to the front of the Lane house. Fifteen minutes later he telephoned to his wife from the house that he would be unable to leave for more than two hours, when the tide would have receded somewhat. He also told her to telephone for a man to bring a boat to get the women out. The storm increased in violence; and an hour and a half after Wilson reached the house, water there became 10 feet or more deep. The house drifted into the canal, where the water was 45 feet deep, and thence for two miles, being submerged to within a few feet of the top of the roof. Wilson and the others in the house were drowned.
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