The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-07-29
In AFTER THE BABY.
MOTHER PICKED UP By TUG, THE
CHILD By TWO rOUSG FISHERMEN.

When n Deckhnnd stuck a Hook Into
Mrs Debus's Dress She Toro II Out and
Tried 60 swim TO the Chiid-An East Side
Ind Gets the Youpgrter on His Back.
aud His Companion Pushes Them Ashore.
Martin Debus Is carpenter. 81 years OF age,
and lives with his wife and three young chill
dren at lO7 Avenue c. His wife. Agnes, has
been In bad health since the birth OF u boy two
months ago. Yesterday Debus did not go to
work. and at IL o'clock. with his wife and
children. took the ferryboat at the foot OF East
Tenth street for Greenpoint The family spent
the day in Greenpoint. and about o'clock
boarded the ferryboat Southside for home.
Mrs. Debus. carrying her little son Edward
In her arms. stood on the after deck, leaning
against the railing. as the boat slowed up
preparatory to entering her slip at East Tenth
street when suddenly a fearful shrek was
heard by all on the boat. Tho wind. which
had come up suddenly. blew her shawl aside.
and. without thinking she relaxed her grasp
on the baby and sliced the shawl In an instant
the baby had fallen to the railing and in an
other second was in the river and was being
carried up stream by the heavy tide. Mrs. Debus
screamed. Then tho passengers saw her get
down on her hands and knees. crawl rapidly
under the railing and. without q word. drop
into tho river.
Men and women rushed amlessly around
the deck and those In the cabins and on the for
ward deck. hearing the noise. ran aft.and soon
that part of the boat was packed with howl
ing crowd. man climbed the ladder leading
to the upper deck and told Pilot William Wal
colt what had happened. Walcott rang for the
boat to stop and shouted to Charles England.
a deckhand. to try to save the woman. BY
this time the baby had been carried a consid-
able distance UP stream. The mother was not
more than few feet from the ferryboat. She
was making frantic efforts to swim in the d.
rection Of her baby. hut made no progress.
Her skirts did great deal toward keeping her
afoat.
Deckhand England grasped boathook.
climbed the ratings and tried to catch Mrs.
Debus with 1t. After several efforts he man
aged to get the hook in the shoulder Of her
dress. 1t was weak hold but the woman
could have saved herself by graspinG the heck
had she been SO inclined. Instead she tore the
hook from her dress and began again her
efforts to swim after the baby England made
several more efforts to catch the woman with
the hook. hut she had hoated too far away. In
the mean time two women on the ferry boat had
tainted and others were crying.
Suddenly around the curve at Twelfth street
appeared big boat towing a derrick and a
freight boat with two railroad cars. Pilot
Walcott whistled to the pilot OF the tug. and
hundred pair Of hands pointed at the floating
woman The tugboat Captain whistled to lot
the people know that he understood, and
moment later those on the ferry boat saw that
the tug had cast her tow adrift and was going
after the woman. who had stopped her struG-
CLING several minutes before and had already
gone down once There was tremendous ap-
plause as tho tugboat swept past the woman
and two Of the deckhands leaned over the
side and picked her up.
At the same time two young men dived into
the river from pier between Tenth and
Eleventh streets and swan In the direction Of
the baby. They separated. and while one went
after tho badly the other hesitated and began
looking around. 1t was evident that no had
seen the woman but had not seen her res
cued and was looking for her. This struck
all the passengers on the Southside at the
same time, and they shouted to the young
man to go after his companion. The latter
reached the baby and seized 1t. He then
started to swim ashore. Tho baby kicked and
squirmed and interfered with the swimmer.
1t soon became apparent to the watchers
that the young man was exhausted and could
not keep UP much longer. and they shouted to
the other young man to go to his rescue. The
latter swan as fast as he could toward his
friend. took the child from him. and started in
for shore with him. Then 1t was seon that no.
too. was becoming exhausted. One OF the
young men swan Oh his chest with the baby
on his back. and the other pushed him along
by the feet. In this way the child was got into
the ferry slip. where some longshoremen
threw ropes to the young men and pulled them
up on shore.
The tugboat lad steam ed to the ice dock at
the foot OF East Tenth street. and had turned
Mrs. Dcbus over to q policeman. 1t then
steamed away and took UP It's tow again. The
name Of the tugboat could not be learned last
night A call for an ambulance was sent out,
and four icemen rolled the uncons cious woman
over n barrel. She had recovered consciousness
by the time the ambulance arrived. and Sur
geon Dimock OF Bellevue found that she was
in no danger he was taken home In tho am
bulance The baby was attended by another
surgeon at the Union Market station house.
and was sent home later. Both mother and
child were getting on well last night.
The two young men who rescued the baby
were Michael Callahan of 4lU East Tenth
street and John Fullerton of 3l3 Last Eighth
street Tho former Is 10 years OF age and the
latter o. They said last night that they were
fishing from the pier between Tenth and
Eleventh streets and saw the ferryboat COM
ing down tho river.
IL looked out" said Fullerton. land saw the
baby and some distance away the woman.
Being n stronger man than Callahan. ! said TO
him: You take the kid. Nike and III get the
lady Then We threw off our shoes, coats.
and trousers and dived in. The tide was
against US and 1t was tiresome swimming"
Callahan and Fullerton said that they didn't
expect any reward and didn't want any.
But" said Fullerton. we're both out OF
work, and II anybody thinks enough Of what
we did TO give us Il Job We'll DO thankful"
Fun IN CHICAGO PITS.