J. Burke Mosley rescued Annabel Skeetoe from exposure in a cliff fissure, El Paso, Texas, February 22. 1934. At dusk, while attempting to cross the top of a cliff, Annabel, 16, fell into a fissure three feet wide and 90 feet deep. The fissure extended 130 feet to the outside, the bottom declining to ground level at the entrance at the side of the cliff. Mosley, 24, carpenter, heard Annabel moaning but could not see her with a flashlight. He noted that the fissure was deep. Bracing himself with his back against one wall and his hands against the other, Mosley, holding the flashlight in his mouth and groping for footholds, slowly descended 50 feet. With great difficulty because of the scarcity of footholds and the increasing width of the fissure he descended a few feet farther. While searching for a place narrow enough to permit him to descend, he slid slowly horizontally along the wall for 25 feet with his back and feet against opposite walls. Failing to find a narrow place, he slid 40 feet along the wall in the opposite direction to a place where the fissue was five feet wide and then slowly descended 15 feet with his back and arms against one wall and his feet against the other. Below him the walls were smooth. He descended five feet more and then, being tired and weak, allowed himself to drop 10 feet to the bottom. He was bruised and shaken by the fall. He got to his feet and walked to Annabel, who was unconscious. Mosley was too weak to lift Annabel, and he made his way over rough rocks to the outside of the cliff. He returned a few minutes later accompanied by a youth, who helped him to carry Annabel through the fissure to the outside. Later that evening Annabel died of the injuries sustained in her fall.
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