Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1913-05-23
OUR LIFE SAVERS.
Humble Heroes Who Do Brave
Work Along Our Coast.
DARING DEEDS IN THE SURF.

storm was raging up the Atlantic sea
board. All along the coast the life
guards were out, launching into the
gale, patrolling the beaches, alert for
signs OF disaster. Just before mid
night ono Of them east Of Bellport sta
ton. on Long Island, saw a schooner
f%oundering in the gray s%pindrift of
shore. Il was the Benjamin Cromwell,
and as the alarm swept down the
beach the crews Of three stations hur-
ried to the scene. Their work was to
take seven men from the rigging Of
the wrecked vessel.
All efforts through the night and the
forenoon following failed. The wind
was too high. Then at noon the
s~chooner's masts, except the foremost,
on which oil of the crew save one had
taken refuge, crashed overheard. This
man went down In a weller OF wreck
age, and to those on shore 1t seemed
as II he must surely be battered to
death. but as the breakers raced In
they saw him cllnging to a plank that
had been swept away with him
A furious surf was running, and tim
Der with which the Cromwell had been
laden was pitched up on the beach.
To add to the danger thick ice cakes,
heaved by the breakers, lifted their
jagged ends high In the air and crashed
down, spllnterlng one upon the other,
and always the awful drive of sno
and sleet. ripping the %Onrushlng waves
into tatters of foam and spindrlft
Surely no man could live In that
Instincdyely the life savers moved
nearer the edge Of the surf and peered
ahead for some sign of life. The beach
was fringed with skim ice, sharp and
pointed, that cut through rubber boots
and clothing as If through parchment.
Helpless to aid the man whom they
knew must be ~plunging somewhere out
in that angry water, they huddled to-
gether as men will when a lifeless
body is about to be cast up before
them. They heard Ice and wreckage
grind harshly: scattered debris washed
up to their feet. Brave men all, yet
they saw nothing to do. They knew
not to what lengths the ocean would so
before giving up Its victim.
At this Juncture a figure sprang from
among them and. wrapping a line about
his waist, ran TO the edge Of the surf.
He was Frnnk Rayner of the Blue
Point station. and he was about to
commit what the other surfmen I'm
stinctively told themselves was suicide.
= The service demands courage, not fool
hardness. For a moment Keeper
o Rorke hesitated, undecided whether TO
. order Rayner back to the beach or not,
a but he couldn't 1nd 1t In his heart to
do IT. 1t was a venture too heroic. too
splendid.
They watched Rayner as he stood
in the whirl of icy spray awaiting his
chance. He was huff naked. His
clothes he had thrown off as he ran.
The cold, biting into his flesh, tortured
him. Still the chance held of. Then
1t came-the bit of wrecknge, the cling
. ing sailor, crashing into the boiling
breakers, and Rayner dashed forward.
Foot by foot through that roaring NJ
| multi of water, Of plunging beams and
{ timber, lodging the splintered spars
! that, leaping from giant cOmbers, made
J as If to pin him, Rayner worked to-
: ward his man. To those on shore he
l was hidden the greater part of the
time. Finally they saw his bend bob
: above a big billow. Near him hoated
. the wreckage bearing its sti1. motion
less burden. The next instant Rayner
vanished, swept under by a tremen-
dous wave.
From the huddled group on shore
men started forward, but Albert La
than, also of the Blue Point station.
was first to plunge into the tumbling
. sens. Tearing through them, he
reached Rayner. who, just cresting a
breaker, snatched at the sailor, now
6 unconscious. And together these he
roes Of the coast hauled their man
through the rearing dmbers and ice to
the beach and to safety.
; Not ten minutes later the Cromwell
! broke I'm pieces. From shore the life
savers saw men fall from the rigging,
Ave Of them, who fell, one by one, IKE
black plummets into the sea. One re-
Q manned aboard. Then he went too
a dark form clinging to the wrecked
mast. nov Rdrift. And again RayneT
and Latham plunged into the surf.
Now, weakened by their efforts and
= the cold, they faced an even hardeS
y task. The man torn from the mast
nearly drowned them with his fren-
Eied struggling. For twenty minutes
% the uneven eight between the sailor
and the surf on one side and the two
weakened LIE ave- on the other
was waRed. Then a great green
" combeP lifted beneath them and bore
all three through the foaming sea to
q the shore.
For weeks Latham lay abed, and
RayneF never performed duty again.
subsequently commended by Wash
ingtOn. they considered that honor sur
{ ncient.
Such Is the typical life saver, the
: man who patrols the coasts from Ban
gor to Galveston. from Seattle to Loe
Angeles. Hes a part Of a wonderful
system-NeW York sun.