News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1885-01-08
A BOY OF NERVE.
Saving hIs Brother from Browning by a Re-
marknbIe Display of Edurance.

Ice to the thickness of two inches
formed over a small pond in the lower
part of Green Township, Pa, during
three or four cold days erd nights. On
Tuesday James Mcguire and his two
sons. James and Lawrence, one aged 10
and the other Is, went out rabbit hunt
ing. The two boys came upon fox
track that led from a piece of woods
toward the pond. The father had gone
in another direction intending to make a
circuit through the woods and come
back to the pond on the other side. He
told the boys to wait for him at the
pond. He had been gone some time
when they discovered tie fox track.
They folloN.-xit to- md, where it
led across the ice near the inlet. The
rain of the Saturday previous had
weakened the ice considerably, but the
smaller of the two boys thought it
would be safe for him to walk across it.
When about rod from the shore the
ice broke, and he disappeared beneath
the surface. He came up quickly and
grasped the edge of the broken ice; but
in endeavoring to draw himself out it
broke, and he sank again. His brother
started to rescue him, but the cracking
ice caused him to return. The boy came
up in the same spot again, and clutched
the ice at the edge. This time it bore
his weight, but he was unable to pull
himself out upon it. His brother now
resolved to run the risk of going out to
his aid. He had shouted loudly for
their father, but had received no re-
sponse. He made as much haste as the
threatening character OF the ice would
permit, and seized his brother by the
shoulders. In attempting to pull him
out the ice gave way beneath him, and
left them both struggling in the water.
Fortunately, both boys could swim
we'll, and the elder one reached the fur
ther edge of the hole and by great care
succeeded in drawing himself out upon
the ice, which seemed to be stronger on
that side, being nearer the shore. The
younger boy followed his brother to
that side of the hole, but he was so
much exhausted that he could merely
clutch the ice and hold himself above
the water. His brother seized hold of
him, but made no effort to help him to
get out, fearing that the ice would break
again. He resolved to keep his brother
from sinking, as he was now so exhaust
ed and chilled that it would not be pos
sible for him to support himself much
longer. A continual shouting to his
father for help was kept up, but for
nearly half an hour no reply was re-
ceived.
The elder boy felt that it would not
be possible for him to retain his hold on
his brother much longer, and the latter
seemed to have lost all power to help
himself. His -fngers- -Xegs eginning TO
relax their hold when he Reard his faith
er's voice in answer to his cries. Ma
guire came running out of the woods
near the pond, and but for the shouts of
his elder son to keep back, would have
run out to their rescue, and plunged
them all beneath the ice. He hurriedly
cut bushy sapling and pushed it out
on the ice from the shore. The boy in
the water had strength left sufficient to
clutch the branches, and hold on until
he was pulled out and dragged ashore
more dead than alive. He had to be
carried home. But for the nerve and
endurance of his brother he must have
drowned.
When James Mcguire was eight years
old he exhibited another remarkable
evidence of nerve. He fell into an
abandoned well in an old grown-up
garden near his fathers house. There
was but little water in the well, but the
well itself was twelve feet deep. Unable
to make his cries heard, he climbed up
the side of the well by the chinks in the
we'll, falling back to the bottom twice,
but reaching the top and drawing him :
self safely out on the third trial.