Samuel Alpert saved Miriam Eisenstein, Roy Wenitt, and Ida Wenitt from drowning, New York, New York, September 6, 1936. While Wenitt, 30, tennis racket repairer, and his wife, 31, and Miss Eisenstein, 26, were riding in a rowboat on East Chester Bay, their boat was struck by a tank-ship 300 feet from shore, and the three were thrown into water 20 feet deep, Wenitt and his wife being slightly injured. Alpert, 30, hairdresser, dived from a rowboat and swam 75 feet to Miss Eisenstein and took hold of her, but she immediately threw her arms around his waist. Letting her cling to him, he swam 20 feet farther to Wenitt. Before he could get a firm hold of Wenitt, Wenitt grasped him around the neck, and all were briefly submerged. Alpert freed himself and held Wenitt, who was then unconscious, and Miss Eisenstein, who had relaxed her hold, both by the hair. He then trod water for a moment until a woman dived from an approaching rowboat and took Wenitt from him. The boat soon reached them, and Alpert aided in placing Miss Eisenstein, who also had become unconscious, in the boat. A motorboat also arrived, and Wenitt and the woman were taken aboard. The two boats went to the shore. Meanwhile Alpert swam 100 feet to Mrs. Wenitt, who was holding to a line that was attached to a ring life preserver that had been thrown overboard. He got hold of the life preserver and pushed it 10 feet to her. A little later two men in a rowboat reached Mrs. Wenitt and took her aboard. Alpert got the life preserver over his head and arms. The tank-ship had turned to head toward him, and as the bow reached him and was about to strike him, he grasped it and was raised so that only his feet remained in the water, the life preserver almost slipping from him. He released his hold of the bow, dropping down in the water, and drifted more than 100 feet along the side of the tank-ship and then was picked up by another boat. The muscles of his back were strained, and he was disabled for two days.
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