W. Roy Maynard, 26, steam shovel fireman, saved Byron D. Wells, 18, laborer, from drowning, Minetto, New York, June 7, 1913. Wells fell from a trestle into the Oswego River and was carried along by a current of 8 m.p.h. He grasped a rope that extended from the bank to an anchored raft near mid-river and held to it. He was 175 feet from the bank and was unable to save himself. Maynard left the bank and went hand over hand along the rope, which was at the surface, to Wells. He then called for help, and another man went out along the rope as Maynard had done. Maynard and the other man seized Wells and held to the rope and then called for the rope to be cut at the raft so that they would be carried to the bank by the current. But when the rope was cut, the other man lost his hold and was carried downstream. Maynard retained his hold on the rope and on Wells for a time but then lost his hold on both, and he and Wells were carried downstream within 40 feet of the bank. Wells was under water and was holding to Maynard’s ankle. Maynard kept at the surface until a man waded out and extended the branch of a tree to a point within his reach, and he and Wells were drawn ashore. Wells was unconscious, and Maynard was almost exhausted, but both recovered. 15666-1313
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