Samuel J. Plowman saved G. N. Eames from suffocation, Overton, Texas, September 28, 1911. Despite the pleadings of his wife and mother, Plowman, 28, farmer, had himself lowered to the bottom of a 37-foot well to save Eames, 50, who he knew was overcome by gas. He placed around Eames the end of a rope, which was loosely looped over a windlass at the mouth of the well. While Plowman was being drawn up, the rope around Eames caught on the windlass and began to wind up. The combined weight of the two men caused the windlass to break. Plowman thrust his feet into the clay wall and, with his back against the opposite side, supported himself for a few minutes, halfway from the top, while the windlass was being fixed. The rope by which Eames was suspended was cut near the windlass, but the end of it caught on Plowman’s foot as Eames fell, and Plowman carried it to the surface when he was drawn up. He then fastened the rope to the windlass and Eames was drawn to the surface and revived. 7519-594
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