William N. Cannister saved Elizabeth G. Geary from suffocation, Sewickley, Pennsylvania, January 1, 1970. At night fire broke out on the first floor of a frame dwelling where Elizabeth, 11, and her brother, the only occupants, were asleep on the second floor. Cannister, 36, chiropractor, noticed the flames and forced open the front door. Shouting that the house was afire, he made his way along a hall, passing rooms in which flames were spreading rapidly. Hearing footsteps upstairs, he called out to inquire how to reach the second floor and was told there was a rear stairway. Cannister made his way to the kitchen, which was filled with smoke, and found the stairs. The brother then was descending the stairway, and Cannister took him outside through the rear door. Learning that Elizabeth was an the second floor, Cannister went back into the kitchen and ascended the stairs. He found Elizabeth in the second-floor hall and carried her down to the kitchen, where flames had appeared. Choking and coughing from the smoke, Cannister carried Elizabeth from the dwelling.
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