Henry T. Mathews

Henry T. Mathews saved Benjamin J. Grant, Jr., from suffocation, Dothan, Alabama, March 26, 1912. Benjamin, 3, fell into an abandoned well about 28 feet deep and 13 inches in diameter. After many boys had refused to be lowered to get him, Henry, 12, delivery boy, went to the well and said he would go. More than an hour had been spent trying to find a boy who would enter the well. Henry was tied to a rope and lowered head first to the child. He grasped the child’s upraised arms and was hoisted a few feet with him, then the child slipped from his grasp. Henry was hoisted to the surface. He made another unsuccessful attempt to get the child, and then was lowered a third time. He put a loop at the end of a rope under Benjamin’s arms and both were hoisted to the surface. Neither was injured.