Richard G. Bateman, 56, stove mounter, saved Mary Rowe, 55; Clara Sullenberger, 29; Edith Drees, 24, and others from drowning, Piqua, Ohio, March 25, 1913. The Great Miami River overflowed its banks, and many houses were swept downstream, among them being one on the roof of which the Sullenberger family and others had taken refuge. This house struck an exposed corner of the span of a bridge which had been carried off its foundations in the course of the main current. The current flowed southward at a speed of about 8 m.p.h. The people on the roof took refuge on the exposed part of the span. The Grosvenor home on the east side of the river was surrounded by water, and the occupants took refuge in the second story. Bateman, using a rowboat on the west side of the river, rowed about 400 feet to the edge of the main current and took a man out of a tree, with considerable difficulty, then he crossed the main current, working his way diagonally downstream and took a man out of a building north of the Grosvenor home. He landed the man without crossing the current and then rowed to the Grosvenor home and took Mrs. Rowe and five women and children into the boat. Bateman headed diagonally downstream across the current and landed his passengers on the opposite side of the river, at a point 1,000 feet downstream from the Grosvenor home. His boat was taken north of the bridge span, and he took another man out of a tree. He then headed down the main current toward the bridge span. The water around the span was very turbulent, but he got south of it and took Mrs. Sullenberger, Miss Drees, and five women and children into the boat. He landed them at the point where he had landed the other load, the boat having been turned around in swirls in its course several times. Bateman made another trip across the current, going to the Grosvenor house. He got men who were there and took them to the place where he had landed the others.
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