William Lancaster, 27, truck driver and mechanic, died attempting to rescue Meredith Watkins, 36, from electric shock, Newton, Illinois, May 20, 1938. Mrs. Watkins took hold of a wire clothes-line that had become fused with an electric-light wire that was charged with a current of 110 volts of electricity. She sustained a shock, continued to hold to the line, and fell to the ground. Lancaster was attracted and ran to a point three feet from Mrs. Watkins and took hold of another section of the clothes-line. He sustained a shock and fell to the ground, his right hand being in contact with the line. The circuit then was broken, and Mrs. Watkins was revived. She sustained burns on her right hand. Lancaster could not be revived.
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