John W. Graham helped to save David Crothers from suffocation, Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, February 8, 1917. Crothers, 37, carpenter, and another man were overcome by producer gas in a gas flue, three feet beneath the ground. The flue was 90 feet long, 3.5 feet wide, and 27 inches high. John, 17, surveyor, after being warned not to remain in the flue more than two minutes and to reply each time men called to him, entered the flue with a rope tied to him and crawled 18 feet to Crothers. He felt the gas weakening him but held his breath as much as possible. He dragged Crothers to a point six feet from the opening and then became so weakened that he was forced to leave Crothers and go to the opening, where he was taken out in a dazed condition. He was sick and taken to a hospital, but he recovered. He had been in the flue a minute and a half. Other men removed Crothers and his companion. The latter was dead, and Crothers was permanently disabled from the effects of the gas. (See cases of GEORGE W. LUCE, WILBUR E. KEEFER, and ARTHUR J. STEFFENBERG.) 18643-1417
18643 – 1417
18643-1417