Henry Berger assisted in an attempt to save Simon Gregg, 75, farmer; Jennie Gregg, 65, and their three children, 37, 30, and 23, from drowning, Pittbridge, Texas, December 7, 1913. (See case of ALBERT MAY.) About six hours after May started, Berger, 36, carpenter, and two other men started from the same place in a boat of similar construction. It was dark when they started. Each man had a paddle. As their boat was about to pass through the break in the levee, the current swung it around, and the men could not manage it. In a moment the boat struck a tree and broke in two pieces. One man grasped the tree and clung to it all night. Berger and the other man clung to a part of the boat and drifted with the current. They struck another obstacle and lost their holds but regained them almost immediately. They drifted about 2.5 miles, and then Berger caught hold of a sapling. They stood on a fence beside the sapling in water to their knees for 20 hours, and then, with the aid of poles, they waded 200 feet through swift water 3.5 feet deep to a house. They lay in a wet bed in the house until the following day, and then they were taken to land in a motorboat. During the night that they stood on the fence, men on trees in other sections of the flooded district died of exposure. 12835-1055
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