Michael Victor Ulrich, 15, schoolboy, helped to rescue Morris R. Baetzold, 15, schoolboy, from a cave, Hinckley, Ohio, October 6, 1965. While exploring a cave, Baetzold became wedged in a horizontal position 25 feet from the main passage in a crevice four and a half feet high and nine to eighteen inches wide. All attempts to rescue him failed. Baetzold had been trapped for about 24 hours when Ulrich arrived and volunteered his help. He was thoroughly briefed by the man directing the rescue efforts. With two ropes tied to him and carrying the ends of two others, Ulrich entered the crevice by crawling through a small opening. Eight feet from Baetzold the fissure became so low and narrow that Ulrich had to lower himself onto his right side parallel to the floor, which sloped downward. With his head lower than his feet, Ulrich supported himself on his right hand and arm and by moving a few inches at a time reached Baetzold’s feet. In all of his maneuvering, Ulrich held himself by his right hand and worked with his left by reaching over his head. Ulrich knotted one of the free ropes through a strap, which he fastened around Baetzold’s leg. He then inched himself back to where he could stand. The rescue men pulled on the rope but did not noticeably move Baetzold. With further instructions, Ulrich returned to Baetzold in the same manner as before. He changed the strap so that it was around both of Baetzold’s legs. Ulrich then probed the wall above him and found a small outcropping of rock, around which he placed another strap. He attached a clamp, which served as a pulley, to the rope tied to Baetzold’s legs and to the top of the, strap on the rock. Ulrich then inched his way back in the fissure. The men pulled on the rope, freeing Baetzold’s hips and right arm. He called out that his chest still was tightly wedged. Ulrich made a third trip to Baetzold. With his left hand and his teeth he tied a large loop in the other free rope and passed the loop over the left arm of Baetzold, who maneuvered it over his head and under his right arm. Ulrich substituted that rope in the pulley and then withdrew from the crevice. Each of his three trips had required about 30 minutes. Baetzold was drenched with a slippery solution, and greased boards were slid under him. By means of the rope around Baetzold’s chest, the men raised him in the crevice and then a little at a time drew him to the wider part of the fissure, where he could stand.
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