One Sunday Mornign on Barren River (Cont.)
Screen 2 of 3We tried to keep in the middle of the river, in order that we could see both sides equally well. Barren River, fully navigable for tugs and barges from the Kyrock asphalt plant on Green River, was at this point approximately 150 feet wide. So the distance to be scanned was not too great. But since there were many things floating in the river--leaves, logs, cans, and various kinds of trash which had been thrown in upstream--our search for one particular floating object was not easy, and we soon began to fear that we might have missed what we were looking for.
When we were a little more than two miles from our house, I spotted something floating which somewhat resembled a kind of coconut I had seen earlier in Florida; and, when I pointed it out to my mother, we agreed it did indeed look like a coconut at a distance. But as we drew nearer, what had appeared to be the rough, hairy outside shell of a coconut, turned out to be the back of a man's head: We had found the body. It was calmly floating face down, the head partially above the surface, the rest of the body at a lower level.
Now that we had found it, I began to wonder if we could get it into the boat. It was obvious at first glance that the man was large--not fat but tall, muscular, and rawboned. (It was later determined by the coroner that he was just over six feet in height and weighed about 200 pounds.)
While my mother kept the boat close to the body by paddling back and forth, I formed the rope we had brought into a lasso with a running noose, slipped it over the man's head and massive shoulders, brought it up under his arms to his armpits, and drew the noose tight. Then for the struggle.
Pulling the dead weight of a 200-pound, six-foot man out of the water and into a small boat would not be easy, even if two strong men were performing the task. But our situation was much worse. My mother, in her early forties, was in good health and not weak; but she was not strong enough for heavy work like this. And at about 135 pounds, I could do just so much. Neither of us could have done it separately, but working together patiently we soon began to make some progress.
After wrapping the free end of the rope around the seat I was sitting on, we both pulled the body up as much as we could and held on while I took up the slack by tightening the rope around the seat. Then we would repeat the process, gaining only a few inches each time. The job became more and more difficult as the body began to emerge from the water and gradually lose its buoyancy that had benefited us when it was completely submerged.
I don't remember how long it took us, but several times I was about ready to give up, particularly at the time the rope slipped from around the seat and the man's body splashed back into the water. But we finally did pull that big body--full clothed, I forgot to mention earlier--into the boat, with only the man's feet hanging over into the water.
Thinking this was good enough, we started paddling back upstream against the current. But we could make no progress at all. The extra two hundred pounds made a big difference, especially with the man's feet and heavy water-soaked shoes dragging in the water. So I began to pull the body farther into the boat, so that the feet would be free of the water. After several efforts, I succeeded in doing this, but not before the unwieldy body rolled over onto my lap, with its face turned up toward mine. Even with its eyelids closed, that direct stare haunted me in nightmares for many months after the rescue was over.
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