ADVENTURERS’ CLUB
HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES
OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF!
=
“Dangerous Crossing”
By FLOYD GIBBONS
Famous Headline Hunter
ELLO EVERYBODY:
Here's a yarn from Claire Gibson of Chicago about an
adventure that took place in Springfield, Ill. Claire was just a
little girl when she had that adventure. It was the first one of
her life, and for thrills and plain out-and-out terror nothing that
has happened to her since could ever even approach it.
It was a hot day in the early summer of 1910. Claire had an invi-
tation to a party that was being given at a house some distance away
from her home and she was all dressed and ready to go.
It must have been somewhere between seven and eight in the
evening, because Claire remembers that the party started at eight.
She left her home, walked two blocks to the trolley line, and
waited for a car to come along. When it arrived, she got on and
took a seat up near the end of the car.
The car moved on, and, after a few blocks, an old lady boarded it
and took a seat near the middle. More people got on after that. It was
pretty well filled by the time it reached Fifth and Rafter streets and
started to cross the railroad tracks.
Claire was up in front of the car, and she saw everything that hap-
pened. That crossing they were coming to was a dangerous one, and
it seemed to her that all necessary care was being taken to see that the
car got over it safely. The conductor got out and ran ahead to make
sure there were no trains coming.
Freight Engine Smashed the Trolley.
Apparently satisfied, he motioned to the motorman to come ahead,
and swung back aboard the moving trolley. And, then something went
wrong. The trolley was moving across the tracks—was right in the
middle of them—when suddenly a freight train appeeeed out of nowhere,
jooming up in the night not three yards away from the car!
There was no time to avoid it—no time to do anything. Some
one in the car screamed. Then there was a thud—a terrific jar—
a crashing of glass and a terrible grinding sound. The big engine
was tearing and ripping the trolley car to pieces!
' The air was full of shouts and screams now. Bodies were flying
everywhere. At the first impact, Claire had been tossed into the air and
GC. HA AATLN ee
Claire Was Thrown Through a Window.
thrown bodily through a window, shattering the glass as she went.
She landed in a sitting position on the ground, 30 or 40 feet from the car
tracks. The car, carried along by the train, was right beside her.
Claire got to her feet. Kid-like, she never gave a thought to the pos-
sibility that she might be hurt. And as
stunned and dazed by the accident that she didn't notice such things.
she says.
half-conscious of what was going on,”
"”
“lI was only about
“] didn’t even realize that I had been in a train wreck.
Climbed Over Bodies of the Dead.
As soon as she got to her feet, she thought of the old woman who had
boarded the car just after she had. Jack through the window of the
wrecked car she climbed, in search of that old lady.
“I climbed over bodies,” she says, “until I found her. She
was unconscious but I dragged her out of the window and laid
her on a nearby lawn. I screamed for help, but no one paid any
attention to me.
“Then I ran to the wrecked engine and climbed to the cab to get
the engineer.”
But the engineer wasn't in the cab.
on the tracks—dead.
3y this time she was beginning to realize that she was hurt. She
was covered with blood and her clothing was nearly all torn from her
body. There was a deep cut on her wrist that was bleeding badly. But
still she carried on. She climbed back into the wrecked trolley,
“I found another woman,” she says, “lying on her back and begging
for help. I managed to lift her a little and, as I did, I recognized
her as one of our neighbors. I dragged her out through the window and
laid her on the lawn beside the old lady, but she died a short time
afterward.”
Claire found him lying outside
ying
Claire Herself Was Badly Hurt.
But by that time help had arrived. The ambulances, the fire depart-
ment, and the police had all been summoned, and now they were reach-
ing the scene of the accident. Hundreds of people were gathering, trying
to lend a hand.
By this time, too, Claire’s head was beginning to clear and
she was sick at heart at the horrible sights she had seen.
With the blood still streaming from her, she began to run home,
too excited to realize that she was badly injured.
She reached home all but exhausted—ready to collapse. Her wrist
was cut to the bone, and there were splinters of glass in her face, and
her back was strained from lifting people out through the window of that
wrecked car. She was so weak from loss of blood that she staggered as
she entered her house.
Her folks called a doctor and put her to bed. And it was the next
day before she read in the newspapers the cause of the accident.
The conductor had looked for the train all right. He just hadn't been
eble to see it. It was dark, and in addition to that a thick fog had
fallen over the city, obscuring the view. The freight's headlamp had gone
out, and the watchman at the crossing had gone home just a short while
before.
All that was a long time ago. Claire has never forgotten the hor-
rible sights she saw that night, but she doesn’t regret that adventure
either.
to help those who were more badly hurt than I was.”
Copyright. WNU Service.
Habits of the Hummingbird
The hummingbird camouflages its
nest (hung from horizontal branches
for safer wind sway) with moss and
cobwebs, for the nest itself using
soft fibers held together by spider's
silk.
Naming Birds and Fishes
Birds are not the only wild crea-
tures burdened with vernacular
names. There is really more con-
fusion among the fishes. There are
hardly two states that refer to the
same species by the same names.
Discovered, Named Brazil
Brazil was discovered by Petro
Alvares Cabral in 1500. He named
it Terra de Santa Cruz, or Land of
the Holy Cross, and took possession
of it in the name of the king of
Portugal.
Meaning of Name Arna
Arna might well be more com-
monly used as a girl’s name, being
simple and distinctive. It is of Teu-
tonic and Latin origin and means
“of the eagle's breed’ or “like the
eagle.”
FAMOUS STORIES
Beowulf Saga
Is Anonymous
Tale of Valor
By ELIZABETH C. JAMES
AS A youth Beowulf had the repu-
tation of being the bravest
among his tribe. Swimming, fight-
ing, and fishing in the open boats of
the northmen gave sturdiness and
valor to him and to his friends.
When he was still young he became
| known as a chieftain warrior, partly
| because his father
was king, but also
| because the war-
| riors liked to follow
| him in battle.
There came a mes-
sage one day from
| Hrothgar, Beowulf's
uncle, whose king-
dom lay just across
the waters, in the
land known today as
Denmark The mes-
sage begged that
Beowulf and his war-
riors would come
over and help rid the land of a fear-
ful dragon, named Grendel.
At once Beowulf and a chosen
group of his best men launched their
boats and set out for the land of
their kinsmen. On their arrival,
Hrothgar gave a feast in the long
mead hall. While this feasting and
joy reigned, there sounded a roar.
{t was Grendel!
Battle to Death.
The monster seized a warrior with
a.
i
will
Elizabeth
James
er, and began to eat them for his
supper. But the dragon was safe-
ly away before anything was done.
The next night Beowul! was
ready. When Grendel approached,
Beowulf met him and there ensued
RECORDED BY MONKS
No one knows who wrote the
stories concerning the hero Beo-
wulf. The poem as we have it
today was recorded about the
Eighth century, but the events
which underlie the epic occurred
about five centuries before that,
By memory the legends came
down through the generations.
Perhaps the story tellers vied
with each other in relating the
most entertaining account of
their hero; perhaps some of the
stories were sung to dancing
around camp fires,
a terrible fight between the man
and the dragon. Using his powerful
and trusted sword Beowulf defend-
ed himself. Seizing the dragon's
arm he pulled with all his strength
and tore it from its socket. Howl
ing with pain, Grendel fled.
Knowing that the monster ¥
likely die from so
wound, there was great rejoicing in
the mead hall. Until another roar
resounded through the night. Gren-
del's mother, a fierce dragon, now
came in fury to avenge the death of
her son. She did not fight that
night, so the next day Beowulf
tracked her to her lair by the blood
stains of Grendel. The trail led to
the side of a black tarn.
A whole day it took him to reach
the bottom of the waters. There he
saw a vast cavern, in which he
knew the dragons made their abode.
Holding his sword ready, he called.
Grendel's mother came forth, eager
for battle. Long they fought, and
Beowulf found that his mortal-made
sword was impotent against this su-
pernatural being. Looking around
he saw a sword hanging on the wall
of the cavern. Seizing it, he stabbed
and killed the dragon.
Beowulf Triumphs.
Having killed the mother dragon
he went into the cavern and found
the body of Grendel, from which he
cut the head to use as a trophy.
Carrying this, he began his ascent
to the surface of the lake, where
he found his warriors mournful for
their leader whom they feared
dead.
When the king had become an
old man, he heard of a vast horde
an earl. Coveting this treasure for
his people, Beowulf determined to
have it. Only one warrior out of
the entire kingdom dared to follow
Long Beowulf
monster. The
and
with
arduously
this
time, but Beowulf guarded himself.
self at his enemy and this time he
‘ fastened his fangs in the throat of
Rushing to the aid of
his king, the faithful warrior thrust
his sword into the side of the dragon
and forced him to loosen his grip
Although the warrior’s
arm was burned, he stayed with
Beowulf recovered him-
self and plunged his knife into the
coils of the fire drake, cutting him
through.
Soon after the death of the
dragon, the wound in the king's
throat grew worse, with swelling
and pain. There was a fever which
grew hotter and hotter until the
king knew that he was to die. He
rewarded his faithful warrior by
making him his successor, and he
divided the treasure among his sub-
jects. Reminding his people of the
the king.
gr Service.
glory of their race, the hero died.
© Bell Syndicate. ~WNU
Wise and Otherwise
wl
O DOUBT the tailor who
asked for cash in advance
had taken his customer's meas-
ure.
Quite small things may keep
you from sleeping at night,
says a doctor. Never mind—
they'll grow up presently.
Little Buddy wants to know
how far it is "tween to and fro.
Girls who play with fire don’t
always strike a match.
Many a man has the wolf at
his door because his wife will
have a silver-fox round her
neck!
When you're in a jam, it's
soon spread all over the place.
Paradox: It's only when a
{| man comes clean that he spills
the dirt.
Farm Champions on the Air
+
Buckingham Fountain
kN
tor tires; Sarah-Ann and John To-
lan, champion Aberdeen-Angus
breeders; Darwin Neal, champion
poultry raiser; Paul Fisher,
champion hog producer. Lower
row—L. E. Mathers, champi
Shorthorn breeder; Harry
Chadwick, potato champion;
Adolph Pirani, champior
nan n
grower; Ralph L. Heilman,
of America who are being fea-
tured on Firestone’s series of 26
“Voice of the Farm’ programs,
is this representative group of
leading crop gr and stock
raisers, Each program in the se-
ries presents a farm champion in
an interview with Everett Mitch-
ell, popular farm commentator
who has been heard on the Na-
tional Farm and Home Hour for | pion corn grower; Paul Stiefl
the last eight years. Each cham- | plowing champion.
pion tells the fact story of his nen .
climb to championship rating in| Distinguish by Purity 3
his particular branch of farm op- Distinguish between baseness | umn rising
eration.
Top from
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1s the
owers
on
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30xS5 «so 32xb
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