Show BOY SAVED S AFTER I NIGHT OF f TERROR JOHNNIE MATHEWS TAKEN FROM WAGON MAROONED IN SWOLLEN SWOL-LEN RIVER RESCUERS WORK ALL NIGHT New Jersey Farmers Foiled Time After Time by Swift Current In Icy Stream Are Finally Successful Flomlngton N JAfter laboring all night In time swollen Ice filled stream of the South Branch river n band of farmers succeeded shortly before I be-fore dawn In rescuing sovenyearold Johnnie Mathews marooned on a wagon in the midst of the torrent Tho rlvor was rising Inch by inch as the men worked and tho boy was taken oft In Iho nick of time the wagon having disappeared beneath the flood when light came News of tho boys perilous plight was brought to neighboring farmers by the two men who wore driving with tho boy when the wagon becamo stalled They were Frederick Howe and Arbor Marshall With a team of horses they had started for Flomlngton and attempted to cross the south branch at Packers Island they said Tho river was in flood several feet deep over tho embankment but tho horses kept on until they wens closo to the bridge Itself Thero the current cur-rent became far swifter and tho Ico swept down In great masses Tho roar of tho stream and the blows of tho Ice terrified the team mill they balked Tho men whipped and coaxed but the animals only whinnied whin-nied and shivered with fright and refused re-fused to advance Wo swam ashore to get help Tho boy still Is on the wagon Rowo said One of tho farmers leaped on a horse and rode among the neighbors raising the alarm Dusk was fnlllng by the time the rescuers camo to the rivers edge and In the thick fog only dim masses of trees and bushes could be distinguished and the boy and wagon were hidden from sight An anxious halloo from the bank brought an answering cry from tho r uglr I IIII i Rowing with All Their Strength Against the Current fog however and tho farmers know there still was time Three of the strongest at once started start-ed out together in an effort to ford their way as far as they could and swim the rest The distance was not great but they soon were forced to turn back by tho swirling rapids and great cakes of Ice The rescuers know it all was over with the lad If ho fell asleep so they kept calling to him frequently through the night Tho sevenyear old boy kept his nerve and held to his precarious pre-carious seat while the flood roared through the trees and structure of the bridge and the Ice cakes struck and shook the wagon All the while the water roso slowly but steadily and drovo the rescuers back The cries of the boy spurred tho men on to further efforts and at Intervals through the night fresh attempts at-tempts were made to swim to the wagon In each case tho rescuers wero driven back exhausted It was long after vIdnlght when a rowboat was brought up on a wagon and launched Two men got in it and with a lantern aboard rowed out The sweep of the racing tide and the buffeting buf-feting of time Ico caught them and their boat was driven down stream away from Johnnie whose cries had grown feebler The boat was driven ashore a mile away from the bridge More precious time was passed In transporting the little cr ft to a point a milo abdve the bridge so that It could float down In the center of tho stream Rowing with all their strength against the current time men In tho boat slackened Its speed us they neared the bridge There the man In the stern leaned far out and catchIng the half frozen boy by Iho shoulder pulled him aboard While the Ice crunched against It the boat vas swept on but a landing was iand safely and as dawn was streaming tho sky Johnnlo was restored to his mothers arms |