Hull L. Wright, 56, lock tender, died assisting in an attempt to save James P. McHugh, Jr., 24, construction superintendent, and others from drowning, Acmetonia, Pennsylvania, June 11, 1950. At night, a cabin cruiser in which McHugh, Charles J. Reilly, John C. Kreig and his wife Carol M., Sara S. Fisher, and William Lahey were riding on the Allegheny River was swept over a dam 11 feet high into water 12 feet deep and was turned broadside to the dam by a strong backwash. The Kreigs, Mrs. Fisher, and Lahey put on life jackets. The cruiser shipped water, and its motor failed. Kreig dived from the boat and attempted to swim to the bank 500 feet away but was churned under by the current. Wright, who was at the lock, adjoining the dam, was attracted and summoned James H. Woffenden, lock master, by telephone. Wearing life jackets, the two men boarded a wooden rowboat with a motor attached and rode to the edge of an area of turbulent water that extended 80 feet downstream from the dam. Before they could throw a life preserver, with a line attached, to the cruiser, their boat was caught in the backwash and thrust violently to the dam and against the cruiser. Their boat began to break up immediately. A finger of Woffenden’s right hand was crushed between the boats. He and Wright climbed aboard the cruiser, which lurched and pitched in the backwash and continued to ship water. McHugh and Reilly obtained life jackets from the wrecked boat. The cruiser suddenly listed sharply, and its stern sank. All were thrown into the water, and Wright, Mrs. Kreig, Mrs, Fisher, and Lahey were drowned. The cruiser rose nearby, and Woffenden, McHugh, and Reilly climbed aboard it. Kreig emerged a short time later and was pulled aboard. Throughout the night, attempts were made to throw and float lines to the cruiser, which, still held against the dam, had drifted to within 200 feet of the other bank, but none was successful. Woffenden during this period continually urged the others to shift their weight to keep the swamped cruiser afloat and assured them that help would arrive. Shortly after dawn, men operating a stern-wheel towboat 60 feet long moved through the backwash to the cruiser, almost seven hours after the accident. Woffenden and the others were assisted aboard the towboat and taken to the lock. A ladder was lowered from the lock, and all climbed to safety. The cruiser and the towboat later sank. McHugh, Reilly, and Kreig were hospitalized for several days suffering from exhaustion, but they recovered. 3671-42017
42017 – 3671
42017-3671