Richard S. Stokes, 74, retired, saved Lillie B. Evetts, 15; R. Ashley Greaves, 21, assistant bank cashier, and Eva Foster, 14, from drowning, Lometa, Texas, July 19, 1911. Greaves and Eva, who could not swim, stepped into swift, deep water in the Colorado River, 30 feet from the bank, and went down. When they came up, they clutched each other and called for help. Stokes, not heeding the calls of his wife and daughter not to do so, swam toward them. Lillie, who could not swim, stepped into the deep water shortly after Greaves and Eva. When Stokes was near Lillie, she grasped his collar with one hand. He continued to the others. Greaves threw one arm around Stokes’s neck from the side opposite Lillie, and Eva clung to Greaves. Stokes swam 15 feet diagonally across the current to a narrow ledge, where he stood in water reaching to his chin. Eva became unconscious just as they reached the ledge, but help arrived almost simultaneously, and the rescued were taken to shore. Stokes was very tired. 6988-683
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