The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1912-05-16
In an attempt to save Burdette G.
Blett, aged II, from drowning, Decatur
Mich, December, z, 1904.

Woods, twelve hundred feet from shore
with another boy holding to his ankles
Adams worked his way to a hole in
which Mahoney and Blett were strug-
CLING, and dragged Mahoney from the
water. He and his companions were
approaching the hole as before, to res
cue Blett, when the ice broke, all
three were drowned.
Bronze Medal. "
Thomas M. glastonbury, aged 3S,
chief OF police, rescued Rufus Long,
colored, aged 76, laborer, from a cave
IN In a we'll, Charlotte, N. c., August
9, 1909, Regardless Of the warming
OF another man, Christenbury, who
measured % inches across the shout
| ders descended ladder with a rope
around him into a we'll twenty-five
feet deep and thirty inches in dame
ter to Long, who had been caught by
the wall caving in and pinioning his
arm, about thirteen feet from the sur
face. Christenbury removed the stones
|
there was danger of the overhanging
wall falling, worked until he had freed
Long, and then drew him to the ladder
Both got out safely.
Silver Medal and 5000 to liquidate
mortgage on his property and $4,000
for the education Of his children, as
needed.
| William F.. Leland, aged twenty
seven, captain, died attempting to save
David Simpson, colored, aged twenty
five, deck hand, from drowning, Nc
Ciellanville, S. c., May "a, 1911. Lc-
land jumped from a river-boa into
Jeryme Creek, and In water fifteen
rect deep, swan ninety feet to Simp-
son, who had fallen overheard. LIE
land caught Simpsons hands, the lat
ter's head appeared above the surface
Of the water momentarily, and then
| both sank and were drowned.
Bronze Medal and $3.50 to father,
as needed. .-.
On the fy-leaf Of the Commission
report, the Carnegie Book Of Heroes.
the following" statement Of Mr.. Cane-
gle In regard to the purpose for which
the Hero Fund was established, is
quoted:
I do not expect to stimulate or
create heroism by this fund, knowing
1 "eil~that heroic action is iinpu1siye.
but l do believe that If the hero Is in
Jured in his bod attempt to serve or
| save his fellows, he and those depend
ent upon him should not suffer pecu-
nlarily thereby"
Now the interesting thing about
'llls report Is not so much the indi-
Vdual heroism it reveals, as what It
SHOWS OF good in the 'ordinary man of
both races The majority of heroes
whose names are recorded in this bool,
are just the common men whom we
meet working in the streets, on ships,
IN mines; men who are doing for us
the hard, rough work Of the world
But deeds of heroism are not confined
10 any class or to any race. More than
mat, this report shows that when
the ordinary man Or woman meets
ana recognizes human need, il makes
llttle difference in what form or color
that need present itself.
Sometimes, in discussing the rela-
ton of the race, certain persons have
MADE the assertion that the thing
which made the problem peculiarly
dlfhcult was that the races were divid-
ca by an instructive distrust and hat
red, the one for the other. Whether Or
hot mat IS true in just the sense
which the people who made the asser-
ton mean, shall not discuss here, IT
seems to me more important to call
attention to the fact that there is in
the average man a disposition to help
! the man who is next to him, his neigh
Dor, whether he be white or black
| In tact the records of the Hero Fund
not only show that the average man
IS, under normal conditions, interested
III the welfare Of his ncighbor, he is
even Wiling to sacrifice himself, even
| 10 give his own life, in order to pro-
tect him from injury and preserve
him from evil
The real trouble is that the white
man and the black man do not have
an opportunity to get next to each
other, or rather they too often meet
each other in such way that each
secs the worst, and fails to recogniz,
the BEST tha" is in the other.
| find that in most cases whero
white men abuse the Negro, or where
the Negro complains about the white
man each is talking not about the