Urey W. Bell

Urey W. Bell rescued E. G. Bannon from assault, Eddyville, Kentucky, July 7, 1933. At night, Bannon, 75, was entering the hospital building of a penitentiary, and as he turned to lock the door, a man, who was a prisoner patient, struck him on the head with a heavy hammer. Repeatedly the assailant struck Bannon and tried to get hold of his revolver. In the struggle, Bannon fell upon a stairway. He called for help. Bell, 29, hospital clerk, was attracted, saw the struggle from the second floor, and recognized the assailant as a dangerous prisoner. He vaulted over a banister, dropping five feet to the stairway, ran down the steps past Bannon to a point behind the assailant, grasped the assailant’s neck at the throat with both hands, and tried to choke and pull him backward. Bell finally pulled him backward, and the assailant threw the hammer down, twisted from Bell’s grasp, and ran past Bell out of the building. Bell got a momentary grasp on the assailant’s hair as the assailant ran. Bannon was seriously injured but recovered. The assailant was captured by guards outside the building.