John J. Selby helped to save Charles J. Coleman from suffocation, Boston, Massachusetts, November 2, 1916. Coleman, 49, was one of four members of a gang of carpenters who were overcome in the hold of the Steamship Devonian, which had been fumigated with prussic-acid gas. From the main deck, their foreman, descending 41 feet, went to their rescue. He stooped over a man as though to tie a rope to him but then, while ascending, was overcome and fell back into the hold. Selby, 49, chief officer, tried to don a smoke-helmet but found that it would not fit him properly. He then descended into the hold with a dry cloth over his mouth and nose and looped a rope around Coleman, who had been one of the first to be overcome. He then waited for the fall of a steam winch to be lowered, but before he could attach the rope to the fall, he was overcome. He was taken out soon after being overcome but was disabled for six days. The foreman also was removed from the hold but lived for only an hour. Two of the men originally overcome were later taken out dead, but Coleman and the fourth man were removed alive. They recovered. 17562-1348
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