Melvin J. Maas saved one or more persons from assault, Washington, D.C., December 13, 1932. While the House of Representatives was in session, with about 125 members on the floor and more than 75 persons in the galleries of the chamber, a man stood close to the rail of one of the galleries and brandished a loaded revolver toward the members. He asked that he be allowed to speak. Many persons hurried out of exits or crouched by tables and seats, but Maas, 35, a member of House of Representatives, walked rapidly from the center of the floor of the chamber to a point almost directly below the assailant. The assailant pointed the revolver toward Maas, but by conversing with the assailant in a conciliatory tone, Maas induced him to drop the revolver into his hands. Two armed policemen, who were in the gallery, arrested him, although they had refrained from advancing to him while he was armed.
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