Milton L. Gore, 19, mail boy, saved Elsie Mae Wilson, 21, from drowning, Columbus, Ohio, October 4, 1948. Mrs. Wilson dropped from a bridge railing 37 feet above the Scioto River into water seven feet deep 180 feet from the bank. Policemen and others ran to the bridge above her. Gore saw Mrs. Wilson struggling opposite a pier of the bridge; and with the intention of aiding her, he removed his shoes and shirt. Although advised not to jump because of outcroppings of rock in the river-bed in that area, Gore climbed over the railing at a point 25 feet from the pier. He held to the floor and worked his way downward on a narrow curving ledge of an arch of the bridge for 10 feet toward the pier and then jumped into the water 26 feet below. He rose six feet from Mrs. Wilson, who was unconscious and slightly under the surface. Treading water, he raised her and swam towing her 10 feet to the pier and got footing in water three feet deep on the base of the pier. He tied a rope, which was lowered to him, around Mrs. Wilson. A boat reached them, and he helped to lift her into it. Holding to the boat, he was towed 70 feet as it was rowed toward the bank. He then released his hold and swam 50 feet to a pier, where he grasped a rope and was raised to the bridge. He was chilled. Mrs. Wilson was taken to the bank in the boat. She recovered.
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