Evening star., 1949-07-11

Rescuers Praised for Work.
The people who came out to
us in rowboats were very coura-
geous because they didn't know
when the rest of the boat was
going to explode. I got in a
rowboat and Mrs. Prichard got in
another one and 1 saw Tony lift
the general into a boat.
God was with Tony and me
but I can't help wishing all of us
could have been hurt little and
nobody killed"
Mrs. Biddle said after the fire
died down, Col. Biddle reached
into the bow of the boat and got
her purse. in which she had a
camera. Mrs. Williams had taken
a picture of the Biddles sitting in
the bow of the boat just a few
minutes before the explosion and
the picture was in the camera.
The Biddles, who celebrate their
third wedding anniversary today,
had recently taken their seven
month-old baby to stay with Col.
Biddle's sister in Southampton.
Otherwise, Mrs. Biddle said, the
baby would have been with them
on the boat.
Dudley Tells of Scene.
Mr.. Dudley said he was strad-
ding the space between the dock
and the cruiser and preparing to
cast off. Mr.. Johannesen and his
brother -in-laW, MIR. Miller were
working on the boat. he said, when
"all of a sudden the boat went
out of my hand"
Mrs. Prichard screamed the
general was in the water and
jumped in and turned him over,
Mr.. Dudley recalled. Then Col.
Biddle swan by and took Gen.
Prichard from me. Capt. Lubo-
shez was screaming back in the
wreckage so I swan over and
pulled him out. 1 tried to leave
him holding onto a piling because
I saw Col. Biddle ard the general
going under, but Capt. Luboshez
cried he was going under so
went back and held him up. 1
saw Mrs. Biddle holding up Mrs.
Prichard. Mrs. Biddle was awfully
brave"
Mrs. Williams, divorce who
works for the State Departments
international conference section,
said she was in the front of the
boat. standing near the Biddles,
when the explosion came.
Veteran Swan Under Pier.
There was a moment when
you could still stand up, but I
must have been stunned" she re-
called. Il heard people scream
ing and saw them all in the
water. I remember jumping in
the water and I must have swum
toward the dock, because the next
thing I knew some one was pull
ing me out of the water"
John Shepherd Wolf, Is, son of
a club member and a Navy deep
sea diving veteran, was credited
by witnesses with one of the
toughest rescue jobs. Without re-
moving his shoes or other cloth
ing he dived into the water from
his own boat, about so feet from
the burning craft, and swan
under the pier to the sinking
Halcyon.
II got onto the deck just as
Johannesen came up out of the
engine pit" he said. The upper
part of his body seemed to be on
fire. He jumped into the water
and a boat pulled him to shore.
Then got out a fellow who was
hung up in the cockpit"
The man he took from the boat
and with whom he swan to shore
was Mr.. Painter, who. was con-
Scious then, but died within an
hour after he reached Casualty
Hospital.
Doctor Assists Injured Man.
DR.. Herbert Ramsey, a physi-
clan of 1925 I street NV, who
ran from his own boat to help
the injured. said when Mr.. Wolfe
brought Mr.. Painter ashore I'VE
Strengthened out his fractures
a broken arm and a broken leg"
He said the fire rescue squad ap-
piled splints before Mr.. Painter
was carried to the ambulance.
Other club members also helped
with the rescue work. Donald
Scott. Alb Thirty fourth street,
Mount Rainier, said he ran to the
scene with a fire extinguisher, but
saw the flames were too high to
use it. Then, he said, with the
help Of another man. he lifted one
OF the injured passengers into his
dinghy and rowed to Navy crash
boat which had sped to the scene
from Anacostia Naval Air Station.
The passenger, he said. moaned,
Il think I've lost a Leg" but Mr..
Scott assured him the leg was
only broken. The men he rescued
probably was Capt. Luboshez since
he and Mr.. Dudley were the two
picked up in the crash boat.
Joseph L. Foley of 1927 North
Fifteenth street. Arlington, an
other club member, said he ran
out on the gas pier and with the
help Of another man, pulled Mrs.
Prichard from below the pier
where she was clinging to a cross
bar.
Then he cut line off the burn
ing boat and threw it down to
Col. Biddle to tie around Gen.
Pritchard's waist while he tied the
other line to the piling. He said
he also threw a life preserver to
Mrs. Biddle and tied the line from
the life ring to a post on the pier.
When Gen. Prichard was
brought ashore artificial respira-
ton was begun Immediately and
the Fire Rescue Squad applied a
L.