William P. Chaney, Jr., 17, schoolboy, helped to rescue Ralph C. King, 6 months, and saved Craig G. King, 31, carpenter, and Roy C. King, 2, from burning, East Flat Rock, North Carolina, September 3, 1945. At night the house in which Craig and his four young children were living caught fire. William, Miss Sara Othella Westall, and another girl passing in an automobile were attracted. As they stepped onto the porch, they heard Ralph cry. Through a partly open door to the living room they saw Ralph’s bed close to walls that were ablaze. The entire ceiling was ablaze, embers dropping at times. Draping his shirt over his head, William crouched and ran nine feet to the bed. Miss Westall also entered. William grasped a rung of the bed to pull it toward the doorway, the rung broke, and he stumbled backward to a sitting position on the floor. Again crouching, he ran to the bed, his shirt catching fire from a falling ember. Throwing the shirt aside, he grasped the bed; and he and Miss Westall pulled it to the doorway. The other girl lifted Ralph from the bed, the clothing of which was burning, and left. William and Miss Westall went outside; and hearing coughing in a bedroom adjoining the living room, they with difficulty pushed open a door from the porch and entered. In dense smoke William walked six feet in the room. Miss Westall followed a few feet, but William pushed her toward the doorway, and she returned to the porch. Hearing a cough near him, William groped and got hold of Craig, who was standing and dazed. Touching Roy at Craig’s side, he got hold of Roy’s hand. Leading Roy and pushing Craig, who walked ahead of him, William went out through the doorway. Others then arrived, and a man rescued one of the other children by reaching through a window. Five minutes later the house collapsed, one child perishing in the flames. Ralph died shortly afterward. Roy sustained no burns. Craig sustained minor burns. The other child was seriously burned but recovered. William sustained burns on his hand and wrist which healed within a few weeks. 40637-3450
40637 – 3450
40637-3450