Stefano F. Romito, 43, test-pit digger, died saving Magnus Anderson, 51, test-pit digger, from suffocation, Cooley, Minnesota, August 9, 1935. Anderson was overcome by gas following a blast in a test-pit 20 feet deep of an ore mine. Romito ran to another mine for help and brought two men to the pit. All were winded. After one of the men refused to enter the pit, Romito, who earlier in the morning had been affected by gas in the pit, placed his foot in a small loop of a steel cable and by means of a windlass was lowered to the bottom. He placed the cable around Anderson’s chest under his armpits and clamped it with a hook on the cable, and Anderson was slowly drawn to the top. Romito called to the men to hurry. The cable was removed from Anderson and lowered to Romito. Romito made a loop in the cable by clamping the hook to the cable, then collapsed, and fell on his knees. A half an hour later air was inducted into the pit, and a man was lowered to the bottom and then holding Romito was drawn up by means of the windlass. Romito could not be revived. Anderson recovered.
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