| Name | Age | Sex | Injuries | Injured areas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wallace, Jeff | 20 | Male | Not recorded | Not recorded |
Missouri, Antonia Pit
Saturday, 26 January 1974
Jeff Wallace (20), Todd Schmidt (22), Mike McGraw, R. Wood and Dale Smith learned about the 71-foot Antonia Pit from an explorers' journal. After leaving one man on top, the other four explored the pit. Two of the men climbed out of the pit, but when Wallace, a student at St. Louis University, tried, he became stuck about halfway up when ropes in his ascending system became tangled. Schmidt climbed up from below and freed Wallace's right foot, but Wallace remained caught. Schmidt was then pulled out with another rope, and he and his friends lowered Wallace about 30 feet to try to untangle him. Wallace had been hanging about 45 minutes, and he remained in the lowered position for another 45 minutes. He tried ascending again but it still did not work. The men on top contacted the Antonia Community Volunteer Fire Department, and they pulled Wallace out of the cave.
Analysis: Wallace was quoted as saying, It won't stop me from going caving, but I'll practice ascending on a cliff first.
Source: Marshall, Karen. (1974) "Youth Gets into Deep Trouble in Cave." St. Louis Globe-Democrat. (27 Jan. 1974), pp. 1-14.
This record was last updated on 27th Apr 2024 at 23:11 UTC.