Patrick J. McPartlan, 35, rigger, saved Edward V. Glennon, 26, mason foreman, from suffocation and an impending fatal fall, New York, New York, November 28, 1952. While working on a temporary scaffold five feet below the top of a stack that rose 257 feet above ground level and was discharging waste gases from a coke oven, Glennon was overcome on the scaffold near a ladder affixed to the stack. A wind blowing in gusts of 35 m.p.h. caused the scaffold to sway continually. Glennon’s helper, who had become groggy from the gases, tied Glennon to the scaffold, using the rope of a block and tackle clamped to the top of the stack. A hand line extended to the ground from the block and tackle. After wedging one of Glennon’s legs behind a rung of the ladder, the man descended to the ground and informed others of the situation. About 25 workmen, including McPartlan, reached the base of the stack, and police and firemen were summoned. McPartlan was told of Glennon’s condition and immediately volunteered to aid him. Wearing a safety belt and shoulder harness to which a five-foot rope was attached, he began climbing the rungs and in 12 minutes reached Glennon, who was inert. McPartlan inhaled gas coming from the top of the stack and fastened the rope of his safety belt to one of the rungs. Swaying in the strong wind, McPartlan untied the rope securing Glennon and attached the hand line to the back of Glennon’s shoulder harness. McPartlan untied his own safety-belt rope and, holding to the ladder with one hand, tugged at Glennon’s leg and freed it. He guided Glennon’s body into an open space two feet wide between the scaffold and the stack, and the men on the ground began lowering Glennon. Without any protection, McPartlan descended the rungs abreast of Glennon, using one hand to prevent him from being swept against the stack and rungs by the wind. They reached the ground in 25 minutes, and Glennon was taken to a hospital, where he was revived. McPartlan was tired and nervous. 3831-42718
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