Kenneth D. Stetler, 20, lifeguard, saved William H. Trutt, 12, schoolboy, from an impending fatal fall, Northumberland, Pennsylvania, January 1, 1930. While William was descending the steep face of Blue Hill by a hazardous path and narrow ledges, he slipped and slid down until his foot became fast in a bush on a 20-inch ledge, which was 200 feet below the top of the hill and a similar distance from the bottom. The face of the hill was of shale and rock and was bare and very precipitous above the ledge and almost perpendicular for 130 feet below it. From the top of the hill Stetler was lowered on a rope to William. He had William grasp him around the neck, and he held William with one arm. They were then drawn upward 20 feet to another narrow ledge. William’s weight caused the rope to tighten around Stetler. Then Stetler called for another rope. One was lowered, but it caught on a shrub 30 feet above the ledge. Stetler removed the rope from himself and tied it around William. He then climbed the rope for 30 feet, freed the end of the other rope, and descended again to the ledge. He tied the second rope around himself, and he and William were then drawn to safety. Forty-five minutes were required to reach William and ascend with him.
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