J. Buchanan Johnson, 56, laborer, helped to save Henry E. Goins, 37, laborer, and Ella L. A., 18, and Edward Goins, 1, from drowning, Zanesville, Ohio, March 26, 1913. The district at the confluence of the Muskingum and Licking rivers was flooded with waters from those streams, and a swift current swept against and over a concrete arch bridge at the mouth of the Licking River. Houses and all kinds of debris drifted in the swift current, and timbers that reached the bridge were sucked down and under the bridge. The water reached above the second floor of the Goins house, which was near the bridge, and Goins and his family took refuge on a pile of lumber which drifted against the house. Later the lumber began to drift toward the bridge. Johnson and a companion were near in a skiff, and they backed over 600 feet after the lumber. They reached it and took Goins and his family off when the lumber was but 35 feet from the bridge. A moment or two later the pile of lumber struck the bridge and was demolished. For two minutes the combined efforts of Johnson and his companion failed to move the boat against the current when they tried to leave their dangerous position, then they gained a foot or two and made their way, slowly at first, to less swift water and to safety. 10456-960
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