Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 24, 1994 TAG: 9410250046
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
``Please pray for us,'' the message began. ``Last night Becky said she had no love left for me, and money was the only thing stopping divorce. I am lost.''
But after reading the one-paragraph missive, the Centreville, Va., man was convinced he was looking at a suicide note.
``It was too serious to be a joke,'' said Tupper, 28. ``Either he had already killed himself, or he was going to.''
Tupper came across the message Friday night on the ``Christian Interactive Network,'' an electronic bulletin board owned by Compuserve.
Some computer users began to type in prayers for the man. ``I said, ``You all pray, I'm going to call 911,''' said Tupper, an Amway distributor. ``Prayer is good, but sometimes you've got to act.''
Tupper phoned police in Miami, Ind., a rural town of about 400, located roughly 60 miles north of Indianapolis. Police, he said, were caught off guard by the call.
``They didn't understand how I could know if someone was about to kill himself in Indiana,'' Tupper said. ``I explained as quick as I could.''
When Miami County deputy Gary Glassburn arrived at the man's home, he heard an engine running inside the closed garage. He kicked in the door and found the 40-year-old man slumped in his pickup truck.
``I had to drag him out,'' Glassburn said. ``He opened his eyes for a minute, but he had breathed in a lot of fumes. I have no doubt he was trying to kill himself this time. If he had been in there another 20 minutes, I don't think he would have made it.''
``I've never seen a rescue done from hundreds of miles away,'' Glassburn said. ``A guy on his computer saves another man he's never met - in another state. I'm still not sure how it worked.''
The man was taken to a hospital and then to a counseling center in Logansport.
by CNB