Show f A 4 CLUB ADVENTURERS ADVENTURERS' t 4 HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES J ji OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF Horse TI Versus Man all By FLOYD GIBBONS Famous Headline Deadline Hunter I H ERE says says Raymond J. J Hopper of Roslindale is uis I the story of my lifes life's darkest moment And Ive I've got to admit that the there e was one time when Rays Ray's life got pr pretty tty dark It got so dark as a matter of fact that even the captain w was s worried But Ive I've got to admit too that from all the evidence Ive I've been able to gather it wasn't Ray the captain was worried about They're pretty hard boiled these hard these captains Ray was in the army Any buck private will tell you that lifes life's i r dark enough in the army without adventures coming along to tomake tomake tomake make them darker But Ray got into the army and Into an adventure too And that gives you a combination of sombre hues that's about two shades darker than an undertakers undertaker's hat I i the Day Before Christmas s. s The United States Coast artillery was Rays Ray's branch of ot the service and Ray was stationed at Fort Fart Greble Rhode I Island land It was December December December Decem Decem- ber 24 1900 Ray remembers the date because It was the day before belore Christmas Also he remembers that it was cold cold bitter bitter cold The mercury vas was way down below the zero mark and the only things around th that t weren't frozen were the beans boiling on the cook shack stove Fort Greble is on an island All the supplies come by boat and the boat ties up at the end of at a wharf built out two hundred feet into the sea seato seato seato to reach deep water Ray says the wharf whar was about 15 feet w wide de with six by timber bolted all aU the way around the edges I suppose that stuff was put there to keep things from rolling off orr the pier pier but but it didn't do very well in st stopping Ray Hopper Ray was down on the Ule wharf juggling s supplies for the quartermasters quartermaster's department They had given him a horse and a wheeled two-wheeled tip lip Driving down he noticed that his buddy was working on a small boat pulled up on the shore about a hundred yards from the wharf He didn't think anything of that at the time time but but he thought plenty about it later Out of the Cart Into the Water Vater Says Ray The fact that he chose that particular day and i hour and minute to do the job he was working on is the reason why I am alive today Ray drove on out to the end of at the wharf The supply boat was tied lied up there and he start started d pulling the horse around to back up to lo It As he did did the horse came face to face with a large black boiler that had been left there there- the day before belore The horse wasn't accustomed to seeing that boiler there It frightened fright fright- en ened d him He gave a sudden jump backward a aThe And then then then-it it happened The wheels of the tip cart rammed up against the six-inch six timber limber that tha circled the edge of the wharf They hit it and it-and and went right over Ray on the seat scat of the cart was thrown backward He somersaulted off orr of the cart and landed head first in about 30 feet of icy salt water And as I feU fell he lie says I saw first the cart and then the horse coming over on top of me Ray couldn't swim a stroke He was dressed In heavy clothing in- in eluding a heavy felt leU army ulster and that made his chance even slimmer The water waler sent an an icy chill chilI through his b body dy He went down down m down He trIed to lo strike out with his hands to bring the surface surface and and then there was a kicki kicking g flailing body on top lop of him pushing him down even farther It was vas t the e horse I was told afterward Ray says that the horse hit the water on his back at the exact spot at al which I went under The men on the wharf were were sure sure I 1 would never come up alive But Bui I did I came up right richt J r beside the horse Horse Tried to Climb on Him The horse was being dragged under by the heavy cart Ray came up right under the heels of the kicking screaming animal The horse saw Ray and tried to climb up on him Once more Ray was v pushed down into inlo the green water Ray caught a deep breath just before he went under Then he was down again with the horses horse's hoofs beating healing a frantic tattoo lalloo on his back and shoulders That Thai second time lime he thought hed he'd never come up He rose slowly slowly his his heavy water logged clothes holding him down His lungs felt fell as though they'd burst before he got gol to lo the surface An And when he did id come up there was the horse borse again climbing climbing climb cUm ing all aU over him pushing him pushing him down once more That time Ray slid off ofT to one side and di didn't nt go down so far Thrashing madly at al the water waler with his numbed arms he fought his way to the surface again He caught a breath started breath started to go down again This was the third time And Ray h had d heard that people who godown godown go go- godown down for the third time dont don't ever come up again Then suddenly he felt fell a hand grasp him by the hair He was being pulled out of the waler water into Inlo a boat And there was his buddy in the boat boal hauling haWing him over the side From where he was working he had seen Ray fall faU into the he water He had launched the boat bOlt and come speeding to the rescue Before his buddy could row him back to lo shore Rays Ray's clothing was frozen stiff Ice fell feU off him In little chunks as two men carried him to la his quarters Meanwhile someone had cut cul the harness from the horse and he swam ashore The boys stripped R Ray Riy y gave him a good rub-down rub and wrapped him himin himin himin in blankets Inside of half hall an hour he felt as good as new new and and he lie didn't even catch a a cold as a n result of his water ice ducking Rays Ray's buddy worried about him Wm for a while while but bul the captain caplain apparently didn't Ray says that when they reported the accident to lo him his only remark was Is the horse safe S s Q Service h |