Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1899-07-15
LIFE-SAvING HEROES.
ThrillinE Rescuea by Volunteers
Men, Women and Children Who
Have Won Medals

For many years before the United
States life-saving service was estab-
hshed, the Massachusetts Humane So
ciety maintained, along the coast of the
state, houses of refuge for shipwrecked
sailors, and stations equipped with life
saving apparatus, i'll charge of keep
ers, who, when the emergency arose,
summoned volunteer crews This vol
unteer life-saving service is still kept
up, and is able not only often to render
effective assistance to the regular gov
eminent crews, but occasionally, also,
to save life when the nearest United
States life-saving station is too far
from the scene of disaster for its crew
to arrive in time. The rivalry between
these two corps has been most gcner-
Gus. There have been no chickering's, no
attempts of one to outwit the other,
but singleness of impulse to serve in
the cause of humanity. Naturally the
gold and silver medals awarded by the
United States government for hero
ism, displayed in saving life have been
more frequently bestowed upon mem
bcrs of the regular service, as this ex-
tends along our entire seaboard and
lake coast. but the volunteer corps has
had its share of honor.
But by far the greater number of
medals for heroism displayed in saw
ing life from drowning have been
awarded to acknowledgements from
the most varied walks of life; men of
high social position, western Indians,
southern negro, plcasure-seekers
along the coast, Il Japanese cabin stew
ard, steamboat men, and officers and
men of the United States armys navy,
ana revenue cutter service. Every sec
tlon OF the country seems to have con
trlbuteu its hero or heroes to the roll
OF honor. There are also heroincs on
that roll. A number Of women hold sill
Yer medals, and two women the rold
medal Silver medals have also been
awarded to mere boys and girls for dis
plays of daring far beyond their wears.
Frederic kcrnOchan was I; lad when
ne received q silver medal for saving a
woman from drowning in the Navesinll
river, near Highlands, ~ j.; and Marie
~ Parsons, a girl of only ten wears
when she rescued n child at Fireplace,
i. !. Nor was Edith Morgan, Of liam
lin, Mich, much beyond grlhood when
she tried, with her father and brother,
to row to q vessel capsized three miles
out. Beaten back by the heavy waves,
she aided in clearing away the logs ana
driftwood from the beach SO as to make
q track for the surf boat At a previous
rescue she had stood for six hours in the
snow, hauling at the lifeline, in land
ing sailors from wreck
Would could add to this record those
unknown heroes-"grcater than those
who are known '--whose heroism lacks
human reward because they not only
rlskcd but lost their lives in the en-
deavorto save others. Would there were
a roll Of the unhonorcd and unsunc!
The medal list is q long one, but the roll
of the persisted longer Occasionally a
memorial like the Brokaw Field, at
Princeton, which commentaries the
heroism of Frederick Brok;aw, the
Princeton student, who gave his life
to save two servants from drowning, re-
minds us of one or another of these sac
rifices. But far more frequently
grave in an unfrequented churchyard,
or proud pang in a woman's heart, is
the only memorial Of the unknown
hero. Gustav Kobbe, In Century.