Show r Victim of Terrible Mishap Recalls Recalls' Day Twenty Years Ago Wh When n Boom Fell Crushing His Back Legs Hands i t H Man Lin Lying in Solarium Thinks He Has Had Pretty Prett Pret Pret- t t ty Good Breaks I R j By JOHN JOliN FERRIS S f t I Associated Press Writer PASSAIC N N. N J. J Dec 11 Today ll-Today Today I In his private solarium In irk St St. Marys Mary hospital Tom observed th the twentieth anniversary of the fallin of or the boom that broke his back legs leg fingers lingers and toes and changed hit him from a burly Iron worker Into such a ash sh shapeless wreck Y that surgeons wet astonished that he still sUll breathed H Hc was 20 years old His head and shoulders are sUll sti massive the head and shoulders ca o c oa of ofa a man whose vigorous legs supported pounds of muscle In a frame only a quarter of an Inch under six feel feet Heno He no longer remembers how It felt to walk and skate and dance n nor does doe remember exactly exactly ex exactly ex- ex he hc on the other hand how It felt 20 years ugo ago not t tread ti to read books and use his head mad for hi Ii he has undergone not only physics physical change but mental as ns well vell For seven years he was unable t fc to move as s much as a finger or to too toe HL Ht sleep was a n mad procession of spectres spectres spectres spec spec- tres of at himself swimming in the Hudson Hudson Hud Hud- Hudson son at Newburgh N. N Y skating orthe orthe or on the Ice of at the river with the cold wine wind In his face of himself working lr it Passaic before the boom snapped from Its base on the derrick And hi hL waking hours were consumed by ar at an unending desire to sleep I HE TIE CAN MOVE NOW He can move now no His arms arms arc are more pliable and he can raise ht his head hend He even writes on writes on a a. typewriter typewriter type writer tapping out about letters a year to friends and strangers most most- mostly mostly ly letters of cheer cher to turn away from oth others rs the gloom that encompassed hi bb soul for so EO long He found salvation in reading and because he had never read much of anything he read everything when he started Poetry of ot all nil degrees of ot excellence history economics politics poll poli tics astronomy biology fiction and banking drama and philosophy and travel words whose meanings glimmered gUm gUm- merd faintly in his untutored mind In 20 years he has skimmed ploughed waded and struggled through volumes He places Rupert Hughes above I Shakespeare for punch and clarity I Albert Payson Terhune he ranks above Dreiser and His cheeks are red zed and his eyes beam as eyes ces are supposed d t to beani beam B By his bedside Is a private telephone In his room arc are books and a n radio When time lags and he doesn't feel like reading he listens to the lie radio rl d o CUTS READING DOWN DOWNIn In the beginning he read about 16 hours a day Then he cut his readIng reading reading read read- ing down to a n. mere 10 hours a day That was when he began his correspondence correspondence correspondence cor cor- cor- cor with the world at large He receives about letters a year from every part of the globe During During During Dur Dur- ing the war he wrote to members of ot the Rainbow division in France and was made an nn honorary member Hes He's known in the Far Easy and Australia Africa and Europe and South AmerI Amer Amer- lea ica I Nurses who tended him 15 and more years ago write to him But his chief work is as manager of the sunshine sunshine sunshine sun sun- shine department which cares cares for Passaic's destitute and others in dis dis- tress Through his telephone he can reach many men and women who are arc willing to help and his courage and aud smile have won him so o many friends the they never refuse to lend Tom a a. hand In 1928 he campaigned on the typewriter typewriter type type- writer riter for Al AI Smith Hes He's a i. i In dyed the wool Democrat That summer summer also he was taken to the national guard encampment at N N. Y For two hours every day he L is allowed al allowed allowed al- al lowed to sit up in a wh wheel el chair All AU In all aU Tom thinks he has had a pretty pr tty good break I |