rescue a party

[shootingstar]

HOWIE NEWSOME:
Whoa, Bessie! - Bessie! 'Morning, Bill
CONSTABLE WARREN:
Morning, Howie.
HOWIE NEWSOME:
You're up early.
CONSTABLE WARREN:
Been rescuin' a party; darn near froze to death, down by the Polish Town thar. Got drunk and lay out in the snowdrifts. Thought he was in bed when I shook'm.
. . .
(Thornton Wilder, Our Town, Act III)

What does . . . a party . . . mean there? Does it mean a participant? It puzzles me.

 

[Barque]

It just means "person". You won't hear it used that way nowadays except in certain formal contexts.

 

[Barque]

It can also mean a group of people, but in this sentence it's clear from the words that follow that it was just one person.