| Show D k FAMOUS taxi ti L HEADLINE HUNTE 87 WYE tell the blanket of death by FLOYD GIBBONS y aou OU know boys and girls out in our prairie states we have 1 blizzards that are corkers the people out in that thal section section know the dangers of those blinding driving snowstorms snow storms and take all possible precautions even so you hear tragic tales every once in in a while of individuals and even whole bus loads of people who have been lost or stalled in blizzards for long hours and finally have died of cold and exposure in baltimore down in maryland blizzards are arc few and far between the people down there dont expect them and dont realize their dangers when they do come weve got a yarn today about a baltimore blizzard and its a story that would have had a tragic ending if it for the grit and heroism of a young boy the boy is a man now his name is john hornberger and he lives in new york city it was the year 1904 to be exact johns mother ran a small grocery store in baltimore to help take care of john and his two younger sisters it was along about the middle of december and a heavy snow was falling A high wind was blowing it into great drifts and there were few people on the streets all day blizzard was too much for john by afternoon the snow was so deep that walking was next to impossible night come and it was still snowing along about dinner time johns mother discovered that they were out of bread and told john to go to a bakery a few blocks away to get some john started out battling the high drifts the snow was like quicksand and the drifts seem to have any bottom he struggled along for hall half a block and by that time he was completely worn wom out it worth all that struggle just for a little bread he turned around went back to the store and told his mother he make it mother said all right but she take that snow storm seriously if shed been brought up in say the dakotas shed have known that snow can be a tough proposition but she know anything about blizzards and well I 1 suppose she just took it for granted that john was too small to get through the drifts she said shed go to the bakery herself put on her coat threw a shawl over her head and left the store ten minutes went by twenty still mother come back john and his sisters began to get worried john was more worried than his sisters he had been out in those drifts he knew what they were he hoped his mother had managed to get as far as the bakery and decided to stay there still he sure started out to find his mother balfan hour passed still no sign of mother the girls had begun to cry and john stand it any longer he put on his hat and coat and started out to look tor for mother the snow was still falling an angry wind was blowing icy particles into his face blinding him he started pushing his way through the comet something hill g B lack black showing against the white snow drifts calling loudly to his mother he got no answer squinting his eyes and sheltering them with his hands as best he could herried he tried to peer through the stinging curtain of flying snow he could see no sign of her even her footprints had been obliterated by the driving blast for half a block a block he struggled on he came to the point where he had bad given up before but he be give up now this time he be had something more to struggle for than a couple loaves of bread this time he was fighting for his mother for her safety possibly for her very life he pushed and stumbled on for another half block he was tired and his breath was coming in gasps how could his mother survive in a storm like this then all of a sudden something black showing against the white hite snow caught his attention A toot foot a womans comans foot sticking out of one great drift she was unconscious in the snow in an instant john was on his knees scooping away the snow around that foot says john 1 I worked as I 1 never worked before getting the 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 bad the snow all scraped away there lay my mother even then john was all but exhausted he tried to lift his mother but her weight was too much for him so he be grabbed her under the armpits and started dragging her back toward the store if that trip out bad been hard the one back was a nightmare half a dozen times the tired boy was ready to give up but he give up not when his mothers life depended on it and mother herself could be of no help time and again john had depended on her but now she was depending on him she was unconscious dragging the dead weight of his mothers body he fought and struggled on he was half balfa halfa a block from the store now now only a quarter of a block it was a long block but never had it seemed so long to john at last gasping for breath he dragged her up in front of the store but that last effort had been too much tor for him laying his mothers mo therB body down in the snow he staggered inside and called for his sisters his sisters came and together they got mother inside john got out a bottle of whisky and forced some of it down her throat they wrapped her in blankets rubbed her arms to start her blood circulating again after a while she opened her eyes and that was the happiest moment of johns life long afterward mother liked to tell that story and time and again she has said that she owed her life to her boy for if john found her fought for her life the she would most certainly have frozen to death in that snowdrift 0 service |
