Clifford H. Lay died attempting to save William G. Steinfeldt from suffocation, West Bloomfield, New York, August 5, 1937. Steinfeldt, 53, carpenter, was overcome by an unidentified gas and collapsed on a platform that was 10 feet below the top of a well that was 22 feet deep and in which water was eight feet deep. For three feet below the top the opening was 20 inches square, and thence to the bottom the well was 10 feet in diameter. Other men refused to enter the well. Lay, 39, painter, knowing there was gas in the well and refusing to wait until a rope was tied to him, descended a ladder to the platform, took hold of a chain that was lowered from above, and bent over; but he immediately released the chain and stood upright. He then was overcome, fell backward into the water, and sank. Firemen later removed Steinfeldt and Lay. Both were dead.
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