Owen H. Williams saved Joseph Sincavage from suffocation, Swoyersville, Pennsylvania, May 11, 1936. Joseph, 14, was overcome in a tank car in which gasoline was a few inches deep. The bottom was 10.5 feet below the manhole of a dome, which was 16 inches in diameter. After a man entered the tank part way, tried to reach Joseph, and climbed out, Williams, 41, stationary fireman, who had a dampened handkerchief tied over his nose and mouth, slid down a rod into the tank, grasped Joseph’s clothing, and gave a jerk, but he then became dizzy and climbed from the tank. He tied one end of a clothes line around his chest and made a loop at the other end. With the handkerchief over his nose and mouth and while men held the line and helped to support him from above, Williams slid down the rod until his head was two inches below the opening. Then supporting himself with his legs wrapped around the rod, he lifted Joseph’s left leg with a rake and dropped the noose over his foot. Williams then climbed out, and Joseph was pulled from the tank. Joseph died an hour or two later. Williams was dizzy and nauseated.
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