Top Stories Headline News
	Contents This Issue's Index
	Editorials Editorials Columns Letters
	Arts & Leisure Reviews & Schedules
	Outdoors Fishing/Hunting Outdoor Magazine
	Sports Local Scores & Standings
	Food Recipes for culinary delights
	Bridges Bridges of the Upper Delaware
	Back Issues
	Search
	Links
	Commerce Sponsors
	Classified Ads Find it here
	Staff Pages
	Masthead
	Design Studio
	Subscriptions Get your copy delivered

Phone gab foils suicide

By DAVID HULSE

NEW YORK CITY — A Narrowsburg woman and her co-worker are being credited for saving a life with phone gab.

Stock broker and Crawford Road resident, Elizabeth Hartley was at work at the lower Manhattan office J. Streicher and Co at 10:00 a.m. on January 27 when her phone rang.

The woman’s voice on the other end was groggy and unresponsive, but she was seeking someone who was co-incidentally named Liz.

Hartley sensed something was wrong and kept talking to the rambling woman. She signaled a co-worker, and Emlyn Philbert picked up the call.

"She’s got a real good gift of gab," Hartley said of Philbert.

"She told Emlyn that no one loved her." She had just called Liz "to say good-bye."

Now knowing something was deadly wrong, but having no idea where the woman was calling from they delved slowly for information while trying to keep the woman conscious. "We had her doing deep breathing exercises. She’d come-to and then doze off again.

About 35 minutes into the phone call, the women called police with a location to check after getting the caller to disclose an address in Hampton, Virginia.

The two women went on talking for 45 minutes all told, as a neighbor in Virginia finally gave emergency services workers access to the caller’s home.

The next day a Virginia police officer called back to tell her the woman had taken a lethal dose of drugs, but would survive because of their Hartley and Philbert’s efforts. The caller would be undergoing a psychiatric evaluation.

Soon after, the office phone began ringing with media coverage of Hartley and Philbert’s deeds. The Daily News, and several New York City television stations picked up the story. There was even talk of possible "Dateline NBC" appearance on February 12.

Hartley’s role was all accidental she said. The caller wanted Liz and got another stranger named Liz, hundreds of miles away. "She was very lucky," Hartley said.

"But I felt great when it was over. It felt like we might have really made a difference," she said.