Norman E. Mattson, 11, schoolboy, saved Norman J. Moulton, Jr., 4, from drowning, China, Maine, April 27, 1958. Moulton broke through rotted boards around an abandoned well and dropped 12 feet before striking cold water 20 feet deep. Mattson and four other children 9 to 12 years of age were attracted; and Mattson ran 150 feet to the well, which was two feet in diameter. Although he could not swim, Mattson secured foot and handholds on stones projecting only slightly from the walls of the well and carefully descended to the water level, where Moulton was floating at the surface. With his feet on stones at one side and his back pressed against the opposite wall of the narrow well, Mattson lifted Moulton from the water onto his chest. Mattson held Moulton with one hand and began climbing, moving one foot at a time, shifting his free hand to a higher stone, and then inching his back farther up the wall. Stopping several times in order to obtain a better hold on Moulton as the latter began to slip from his grasp, Mattson climbed to within 18 inches of the well opening. From a prone position on the ground a girl then lifted Moulton from the well, after which Mattson climbed through the opening. Moulton was treated for exposure; and Mattson, who had been in the well approximately five minutes, sustained bruises from the stones. They recovered.
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