The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-02-15
RESCUE OF THE BLIND HORSE.
AOBS SIT tH UNDER A PIER, FOL-
LOWING MS DRIVERS VOICE.
sank ed out or the Icy River BY Donkey
Engine, He Ensulfed -Four Bottles OF
NbIskey aud Got katJenjnmmer
Half Pint Did for the Rescued Driver

Yesterday and held public reception.
Teamsters. neghbo ora, waterfront loafers
and policemen dropped in TO look him over
md pat his glossy neck.
Nob.. the old black. stood with his
head dropping and his eyes half closed, in
no condition to appreciate these public
tributes. He had Just left his team mate
on the bottom of the river and a driver in
he hospital. and he himself had been
drowned and frozen and hanged and dead
drunk in the course OF two hours. He had
n license TO look tired.
Thomas German drove up yesterday
morning to Pier ~, where the Bureau OF
Snow Removal dumps. with a load Of street
ice At that stage Of the tide the surface
ri the water was perhaps twelve feet
below the pier and carried two foot
coating OF hard ice from the dumpngs
Of the early morning, The pier was frozen
and slippery
German had rather wild young buck
,kin horse on the of side of his team and
old. eteady, intelligent Nobs, sleek and
stout but totally blind, on the nigh side
As he pulled in close behind the pier edge
Inc buckskin began to shy. His forefeet
4,ruck an icy spot and shot out from under
him and he plunged straight of the edge
There he hung above the water.
old Nobs felt the strain, but could not
gre the danger He began to give, little
ty little although German, on the box,
vas holding him back with all his might
The bucltskin. held in the air by his collar,
gave a wild flop and over went Nobs. For
llst a moment the team hung with their
heads down, then German, wagon and all
dropped into the river
The force Of the lurch shot German clear
Of the wagon He turned somersaults
in the air and went down through the
crlst OF ice. A moment later he came up,
struggling desperately against the weight
NJ his heavy overcoat and boots and tho
cinging ice He could keep up, and that
was all.
John Mcclure wegher on the pier,
tossed him rope German could clutch
II. and no more He tried to fasten it
under his arms but the weight OF clothes
and ice vas too much for him. He gave it
up. and held on feeby.
Cit a rope around me- boys said John
Mcclure. I'm going down there
Edward Drury mate Of the Indravsdi
heard him Drury is an athletic young
Englishman.
No. you don't. he said I'm younger
than you Let me try Drury tied the
line under his arms and jumped in. After
9 hard fight he broke channel out to
German and tried to get line around him
1t looked easy but in fact what with
tire elm ging ice and the stupefying cold.
Drlry was ten minutes getting that line
l. . 10, r., 10
blue and stiff with the cold
The lmgshoremen hauled German out
but Drury heaved himself up and pointed
Let me get the horses loose, he yelled
Every one had forgotten the horses The
bucksln was under the wreck Of the wagon.
Only his yellow all appeared above water;
be was plainly dead But the black muz-
zle Of old Nobs showed through hole in
the ice and the water boiled where he Was
hshting. hard, il blindly, FOR his life
let the horses go, you'll die out there"
yelled Mcclure The longshoremen gave
heave: and by the time they had Drury
ashore he was in no condition to go back
FOR horses And all that time, Nobs was
swimming steadily and mechanically
German half dead az he was, had refused
to leave the dock until he saw how his team
Vas going to pull through. Wrapped in
tarpaulin and with half pint Of whlskey
In him he took charge
II wa can get him nearer to the pier
you can get hook into his bit and hold him
UP. he cried Get up Nobs! Come on.
tov, Come on
The head Of Nohs was pointed away from
the pier. A. his masters voice he cooked
his pointed black ears, whred about and
began swimming in the direction Of the
sound
That's right. boy' Com, on. Nobs'
Come on. damn your black old skim yelled
German
Foot lay foot. Nobs smashed through
The ice crust toward the pier. The
wreckage Of the wagon still hung to his
tugs. but il aoated, and he managed to
struggle alongside Mcclure caught his
hi with a iorg boathook and Sob- dropped
hack into the water and rested A long
shoreman on the end Of line dropped
down and cut the harness away. Nobs
swerved his head on the boathook. and
smelled Of the mans clothing with his wet
black muzzle Here al last was human.
and all the help Of blind horse is from
humans
By God he looked just relieved, that's
how he looked said Mcclure.
They had their horse. but no one knew
how 10 IN him MP the twelve feet to the
pier over at the next wharf. however,
vas lighter with donkey engine.
II you can only get him alongside.
yelled the lighter captain. Il can hoist
him ] can't make il 10 get over there
n do OH u=tp hat-
Pier A.
''rrl it said German let him loose
Now, Nobs' Get upi Got mp, Nobs!-
Dropping his nose to the swimming level
again, Nobs struck ont and was lost 10
slghr beneath the pier. A hundred long
shoremen, sailors and teamsters gathered
along the bulkhead and waited a breath
less three minutes; when, on the other side
out popped the black nose. and they oheered
Ike mad
The boathook was caught in Nobs's bit
again. Walking down the pier, they guided
him alon gsde the lighter.
Tho troubles Of Nobs weren't over vet
], had taken DrlTy ten minutes to get a
Tope about man When they tried to do
the same lob for a horse they found it an
tmpossibility and for the first time the old.
blind black seemed TO he losing his nerve.
JUS eyes began 70 close; no hung dead
weight on the boathook.
Hes dying yelled Mcclure. Try his
eeckl It's your only chance
They wrapped the rope around his neck;
The engine started, and Nobs was hanging
abOva tho A dpzau gatlHrc