Verlyn G. Gile, 26, laborer, died saving Robert Mundell, 19, laborer, from suffocation, Salina, Kansas, December 22, 1958. When Mundell, Gile, and another man entered a grain storage tank 30 feet in diameter and were preparing to push wheat to the opening of a loader chute in the bottom, Mundell was caught by the wheat as it began to shift and was drawn into the opening, which was 18 inches square. The wheat varied in depth from 14 feet around the sides of the tank to two and a half feet at the opening. Gile, who was not caught in the moving grain, moved toward the opening, grasped Mundell’s wrists, and attempted to pull him from the chute. As Mundell sank into the grain to his neck, Gile began to slide toward the opening. At Mundell’s insistence Gile released his hold and grasped a plastic cable suspended above the chute. Mundell was drawn all the way into the chute, passing through it into a conveyor tunnel beneath the tank. As his hands slid on the smooth cable and he slowly was drawn into the chute, Gile told the other man not to try to help him but to summon other workmen with ropes. The man left the tank and called for help, attracting a number of construction workers, including Cornelius Cooper. Followed by other workmen, Cooper climbed into the tank and moved to near the chute opening, where only the hands of Gile then were visible. Cooper grasped Gile’s hands and pulled hard but lost his footing and slid into the wheat piled over Gile at the opening. The grain piled up around Cooper, causing him to lose his hold on Gile, who sank into the chute. The man in charge of the group tied a six-foot rope around the wrists of Cooper, who was covered to his waist with his hands extended upward. The other men were unable to pull him from the grain and were directed to move back from the chute. Meanwhile two other men had entered the tunnel and removed Mundell, who barely was conscious. With an axe they detached the lower part of the loader chute, grasped the feet of Gile, and pulled him into the tunnel. The grain inside the tank then completely covered Cooper, who was caught by a grain shovel which had become wedged at the chute opening, preventing the men in the tunnel from reaching him. Two men entered the tank with a long rope tied to each and held outside. In a half an hour they uncovered Cooper enough to attach another rope, by which he was pulled from the grain. Mundell, having passed quickly through the chute, was revived with oxygen. Gile and Cooper could not he revived
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