William P. Clark, 25, packer, saved Fons T. Duckworth, 32, brick manufacturer, from drowning, Morganton, North Carolina, July 16, 1916. Duckworth was in a building that was surrounded by the floodwaters of the Catawba River at a point 800 feet from the nearest bank. The water was 12 feet deep, and the current flowed 5 m.p.h. All other buildings nearby had been washed away. After other men had refused to go to Duckworth’s rescue and while the water was still rising, Clark undressed and put out in a 15-foot flatboat a half-mile upstream from the building. He guided the boat with a paddle toward the building and was carried onto the roof of a porch that was receiving the current in a direct line. Clark and Duckworth then paddled the boat away from the building, having difficulty in leaving it to avoid being swept against it, and paddled gradually to high ground a half-mile downstream. 17317-1584
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