John W. Diggs, 53, railroad conductor, attempted to save Lucy E. Phillips, 41, from drowning, Cumberland, Maryland, September 30, 1943. Mrs. Phillips got into the Potomac River in an undetermined way and floundered in water eight feet deep. The water was heavily polluted, was covered with scum, and had a foul odor of sulphur dioxide gas. Diggs and two other men ran on a railroad bridge to a point opposite Mrs. Phillips. Diggs, who was fully clothed, got down to the lower flange of a girder and dropped 15 feet into the water. He swam five feet to Mrs. Phillips and towed her by the hair as he swam toward a pier of the bridge. Because of the odor he breathed with difficulty, and his eyes burned. After towing her for 13 feet, he began to choke; and releasing her, he swam five feet and got hold of driftwood at the pier. From the bridge a grappling hook on a rope was snagged in Mrs. Phillips’s clothing; and she was pulled to Diggs, who with difficulty tied the rope around her. As men pulled her up, she slipped down slightly; and Diggs grabbed her and was submerged briefly but again got hold of the driftwood. Mrs. Phillips was pulled upon the pier, and later Diggs was pulled up. Mrs. Phillips could not be revived. 40116-3365
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