Hubert A. Yates saved Ole Newtson from drowning, Tempe, Arizona, February 13, 1931. Newtson, 69, retired farmer, was alone on an island in the Salt River when the water from heavy rains threatened to overflow the island. He got into a large box, paddled a few feet from the island, and then clung to willows. It was dusk, and logs and other debris drifted in a current of 5 m.p.h. Many persons assembled on the bank but did nothing. Yates, 28, city fireman, went six miles in an automobile to the river, and removing his clothing and taking one end of a line 150 feet long in his mouth, he swam across a channel 125 feet wide, in which the water was 12 feet deep. He got footing in water 3.5 feet deep, pulled a heavy rope that was tied to the line across the water, and tied the rope to a tree. He then waded to the box and pushed it with Newtson in it several hundred feet to the tree. He fastened the rope to the box, and Newtson in the box was pulled by men to the bank. Yates swam and drifted in the current 300 feet in returning to the bank. 31592-2620
31592 – 2620
31592-2620