Show 1 HEADLINE HURTER IF U 40 A tie the blanket ol of death 4 by FLOYD GIBBONS OU know boys and girls out in our prairie states well I 1 blizzards that are corkers the people out in thata thatis know the dangers of those blinding driving snowstorm take all possible precautions even so you hear tra tragic 11 ct 1 every once in in a while of individuals and even whole bus 3 J of people who have been lost or stalled in blizzards foi 0 hours and finally have died of cold and exposure j in baltimore down in maryland blizzards are few and far be the people down there dont expect them and dont realize thela their gers when they do come weve got a yarn today about a B balta alt blizzard and its a story that would have had a tragic endina ending for the grit and heroism of a young boy the boy is a rna mana da his name is john hornberger and he lives in new york city it was the year 1904 to be exact johns mother ran a sin sma a h i grocery store in baltimore to help take care ot of john and his ts t younger sisters it was along about the middle of december an a heavy snow was falling A high wind was blowing it drifts and there were few people on the streets all day I 1 blizzard was too much for john by afternoon the snow was so deep that walking was next possible night came and it was still snowing along about dinnell dinner johns mother discovered that they were out of bread and tolda told to go to a bakery a few blocks away to get some john started out battling the high drifts the snow was like q qa sand and the drifts seem to have any bottom he struggled a for half a block and by that time he was completely worn 04 out worth all that struggle just for a little bread he turned ar arc went back to the store and told his mother he make it 1 mother said all right but she take that snow storm sero if shed been brought up in say the dakotas shed have knowd snow can be a tough proposition but she know anything a blizzards and well I 1 suppose she just took it for granted that johnn john too small to get through the drifts she said shed go to the bakery self put on her coat threw a shawl over her head and left the store ten minutes went by twenty still mother come ba bick john and his sisters began to get worried john was more v wog wo g ried than his sisters he had bad been out in those drifts he knew what they were ile he hoped his mother had managed to get as barva far as the bakery and decided to stay there still he sure started out to find his mother half an hour passed still no sign of mother the girls had bell to cry and john stand it any longer he put on his hat and c and started out to look for mother r the snow was still falling an angry wind was blowing icy partie para into his face blinding him he started pushing his way through f N 0 something black showing against the white snow 71 drifts calling loudly to his mother he got no answer squinting it eyes and sheltering them with his hands as best he could li he tried toper to pe through the stinging curtain of flying snow he could see no sign ot of he be even her footprints had been obliterated by the driving blast for half a block a block he struggled on ile he came to the point where he had given up before but he give up now j this time he had something more to struggle for than a couple A loaves of bread this time lie he was fighting for his mother for j her safety possibly for her very life J he pushed and stumbled on for another half block he was and his breath was coming in gasps how could his mother survive I 1 fa k storm like this then au all of a sudden something black showing a aa the white snow caught his attention A foot a womans comans foot st ic kin out of one great drift she was unconscious in the snow in an instant john was on his knees scooping away the snow aronen that foot says john 1 I worked as I 1 never worked before gettin getting gitt thi snow out from around that body I 1 know who it was I 1 suspected but I 1 be sure and when at last I 1 had the snow all scraped awa agaj there lay my mother d even then john was all but exhausted he tried to lift his j 4 mother but her weight was too much for him so he grabbed her ber J under the armpits and started dragging her back toward the stork store 3 11 if that trip out had been hard the one back was a nightmare hal a dozen times the tired boy was ready to give up but he gw 0 up not when his mothers life depended on it and mother lierse herig could be of no help time and again john had depended on herg her bu I 1 now she was depending on him she was unconscious tj dragging the dead weight of his mothers body he fought and str aled on ile he was half a block from the store now now only a quarto quarte of a block it was a long block but never had it seemed so long to 44 at last gasping for breath he dragged her up in front ot of the store bu that last effort had been too much for him laying his mothers baor bod down in the snow he staggered inside and called for h his is sisters his sisters came and together they got mother inside john got ai or a bottle of whisky and forced some of it down her throat they i h her r in in blankets rubbed her arms to start her blood circulating again after a while she opened her eyes and that was the happiest vr koinm of johns life long afterward mother liked to tell that story and time and agate 1 she has said that she owed her life to her boy for if john found tow 11 her fought for her life she would most certainly have frozen to deau in that snowdrift 1 C service |