HEROISM ON A BEACH

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 104, 4 May 1934, Page 5

HEROISM ON A BEACH

HERO WITH ONE ARM WOMAN’S LIFE SAVED MELBOURNE, April 19. While a crowd of 30 men and girls stood by, making no move to assist, a one-armed youth, Stuart Austin, aged 21, railway clerk, of Brighton, heroically leaped fully clothed from St. Kilda Pier to rescue an elderly woman from the sea, after an amazing 100 yards swim. The crow’d, ho says, did not even help to carry her up the beach. The woman, Mrs. J. Boothman, aged 72, was driven by Air. Austin to a hospital. Air. Austin’s right arm was severed above the elbow in a train accident five years ago, and he had not swum since. He was never a good swimmer, and had not previously ventured into deep water. He is of frail build, auburn-haired and pale- “ Seeing a crowd collected half-way along the St. Kilda Pier about 10.45 p.m.,” Mr. Austin said, “ I left my car and went to see what was the matter. Someone in the crowd of 30 or so men and girls said, ‘ There's a woman in the water; she’s drowning all right.’ “ ‘ Isn’t anybody going in for her ?’ I asked. No one answ'ered. I could just see her white face in the dark, calm water. I then dived in. I did not think to take off my coat. I grabbed the woman. She was terribly heavy, and the weight of our clothes seemed to drag me under. “ We boomed to make no progress at all. It wan awful, and for a while I thought we were drifting out. Part «»f the time I had to let her go, give a couple or quick strokes with my left arm, then grab her as she was going under. No one came to help us out. The woman was a dead weight, and it was harder getting her through the shallows than swimming. I could hardly move her across the sand. I got her into the car somehow and drove to the nearest hospital I could think of. The secretary of the Royal Life Saving Society of Victoria said that the matter would be brought to the notice of the Riyal Humane Society.