HERO'S UNTIMELY END

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22356, 29 February 1936, Page 3 (Supplement)

HERO'S UNTIMELY END

BRAVE ACTION CAUSES DEATH Just over a month after performing an act of heroism a young man who, following a hard fight against fate, was trying to get on his feet, died in London under sad circumstances. He was John Albert Richards, aged 25, whoso gallant attempt to rescue a drowning man from the Thames won deserved commendations.

Complications set up by hunger and hardship and his plunge into the icy river brought about his untimely end. On December 5 Richards, who had been out of work for a year, was walking along the Thames Embankment, near Charing Cross, when he saw a man, later identified as Michael Joseph Corridon, get on to the parapet. Describing the incident at the inquest Richards stated, "I shouted to him to come back and managed to grasp his coat, but he wriggled through and fell into the water.

"I took off my overcoat and cap and dived in after him, but although I got hold of him on two occasions, he struggled away from me each time. I was too numb to make a third attempt, and two men threw me a rope to get me out."

The coroner, Mr. Ingleby Oddie, called Richards a hero, and said he hoped the police would see that his deed was brought to the notice of the Carnegie Fund trustees. Richards was cared for in hospital and later was given a job as a car cleaner by Henlys, the motor agents. On starting work he remarked, "For the last 12 months I have lived on the few shillings a week I have made by doing odd jobs. Now that I have this job 7 mean to make good." Richards worked only a month when he was taken ill at his home at Tottenham. He was removed to hospital, where he died. His sister-in-law stated that he never properly recovered from the effects of his immersion in the Thames. "He was overjoyed," she said, "at getting a job after being out of work for so long, but at the same time he complained of pains in his chest and back. He was an extraordinarily fine character with whom life had dealt unkindly. Ho never once referred to the Thames episode and did not consider himself a hero. "For months before he had been sleeping out. We did not know of his plight until we read of his diving into the water, and then, when he left hospital, Ave offered him shelter in our home."

Mr. H. G. Henly, head of Henlvs, Limited, stated he was frankly doubtful about Richards' ability to do much work as his physical state seemed so poor. "But a youngster in his condition who would dive into tho river in December deserved a chance," added Mr. Henly, "and I gave him que. And my doubts were quite unjustified. He worked splendidly, and 1 have never felt the loss of an employee more keenly."