Irl H. Lantz, 40, oil refinery superintendent, rescued Dudley W. Caswell, Jr., 20, painter, from burning, Smackover, Arkansas, September 1, 1929. Caswell waded almost to his knees in fuller’s earth for several hundred feet in a slough to a smouldering stump to stamp out the fire. For at least 30 feet from the stump the fuller’s earth contained gasoline. As he was about to strike the stump with his foot, flames flickered around him, and his clothing ignited. Whenever he took a step, flames arose from the place where he set his foot. Lantz, who wore cotton clothing and low shoes and who was on the opposite side of the slough, waded for 20 feet through shallow water covered with a scum of crude oil and then through fuller’s earth for 55 feet to Caswell. Lantz’s trousers immediately ignited. He grasped Caswell’s arm and led him away from the stump. At each step flames rose to their waists. When they were 10 feet from the stump, Caswell lay down and rolled to extinguish the flame. Lantz waded farther away, urging Caswell to follow him, and Caswell followed. Both finally waded to a point 30 feet from the stump and out of the gasoline-impregnated area. Both men were seriously burned but recovered. Lantz was disabled for two and a half months.
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