Bryce E. Morrison, 30, window displayman, saved Thomas J. Luther, 33, sales representative, from drowning, Sulphur Springs, Florida, December 23, 1953. While in his motorboat in the Hillsborough River, Luther fell against the throttle, and the boat veered beneath a low-hanging limb of a cypress tree. Luther was struck on the head, rendered unconscious, and fell across a gunwale of the boat, which became caught in a dense bed of hyacinths inhabited by alligators and poisonous snakes. Two men in another motorboat reached the Luther craft and shut off its motor. One of the men then jumped into the Luther boat, which sank sternfirst in water 12 feet deep, carrying Luther beneath the surface but leaving the bow projecting above the water. Four other men, including Morrison, reached the scene in their motorboat as the first two men left to summon a physician. Morrison jumped into the water and submerged three times in the hyacinth stems but could not locate Luther. He helped to move the boat from the hyacinth bed and then made three more attempts to find Luther as another man arrived in a rowboat. By then the boats had drifted downstream, and the motor of the sunken craft struck a submerged dam, where Morrison succeeded in locating Luther. He submerged again and, grasping Luther, swam with effort to the surface, where he found that the fuel hose of the submerged boat was wrapped around Luther’s neck. Assisted by two of the men, Morrison removed the hose and then helped them lift Luther into the rowboat. Morrison clung to the side of the rowboat as it was towed to the bank by the motorboat. Luther had suffered a fractured skull and other injuries but had taken in little water. Morrison was chilled, nervous, and nearly exhausted. Both recovered. 43619-4038
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