Patrick Kelly, 23, aluminum spinner, saved Joseph E. Mack, Jr., 9, schoolboy, from drowning, Niagara Falls, Ontario, August 24, 1958. While visiting the Canadian Falls at night with his parents, Joseph fell into a power plant tail race and was carried into the Niagara River, where in shallow water over a rock shelf he caught hold of a projecting rock 400 feet from the brink of the falls. He was 75 feet from a high stone wall along the bank of the river and, although current on the shelf was slight, his feet were at the edge of rapids moving at a speed of eight to nine miles an hour toward the falls. The screams of Joseph’s mother attracted Kelly, who ran 260 feet to a steep bank at the end of the wall and descended to the water’s edge. In the dim light from the electrical illumination of the falls, he made his way a 135 feet along the base of the wall at the edge of the river and then waded ten feet into the water toward Joseph. Losing his footing, Kelly sat down in water two and a half feet deep on the rock shelf and in a seated position moved 65 feet farther to Joseph. Kelly took hold of Joseph, who still was clinging to the rock but then was face down in the water. Kelly remained seated in the water and with his feet cautiously pushed himself backward 30 feet on the rock shelf, pulling Joseph with him. He then got to his feet and, twice losing his footing on the slippery rock shelf, waded with Joseph to the bank at the end of the stone wall.
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