Omaha daily bee., 1920-02-16
Joe Sokonic, Cripple
Hamilton Raymond in the New York World.


A brown, furry mass Of arms and legs paws
across the snow. There are grunts, squeals
groans--some brutay masculine, some harshly
feminine A rough ball shoots from the midst
of this chaos. There is "a scramble for it.
Women seem to be pitted against men. Their
shouts are as enthusiastic, their blows very
nearly as powerful. This seems to be curious
kind of football, without pity and without rules!
A shrek of pain-and the crowd shudders
away from a still little figure alone on the ice.
Superstition holds them. The boy. has been
touched by the evil spirits He is tabool They
dare not approach. Some dark power of evil
that has blasted him may touch them, too.
Reality says that this l2-year-old boy has
broken his back, but what do these cringing,
superstitious Eskimos know of broken backs9
Above the Arctic circle there is only white
ness, silence and the impenetrable surfaces OF
sky. sea, ice and snow, that stihe what little
soul man may have and leave him to occupy
his days with the struggle against the weather,
and his nights with madness, bestiality or
stupor.
of Joe Sokonic, little cripple who is a striking
example of the power of education to stimulate
character, leadership, and even the more subtle
qualities~of statesmanship
1t was after that pitiful accident in the ice
game some 20 years ago that J. H. Magure
Sokonic smothered under hot'skins in dirty
igloo. He was paralyzed from the waist down
No attempt at medical assistance had been made,
but only the old chants and rites to drive away
the all surrounding evil spirits.
, Mcguire nursed the boy and taught him.
Gradually his physical condition improved. He
showed greater interest to learn, and proved
rapidly progressing pupil. He would never
be able to walk, though, nor could he lie down
fiat on his back.
They devised sled for him. Tied to this,
he could propel himself and when he needed
c1a baaI for -, 1,n a
tired animal. But handicapped by. such tre-
mendous physical disability, and with the g
torrance OF his race to combat he showed will
and determinations worthy of a Napoleon.
Joe and MaguRe were in Kivolina Alaska.
As the boy came to know more and more about
the English language and white mems methods,
he could reason more surely, and he soon real
lied that the traders were cheating his people
He, therefore, started to act as medium be-
tween them. He astounded the white men with
his shrewdness. He speedily made better bar
gains for the natives of Kioolina
Sanitation in the goos> was unspeakabiy
bad. Joe learned that safety and health lay
only in better living arrangements. He went
among the huts on his sled, urging the people
to build homes that would give them air as we'll
as heat Gradually the entire aspect of the lit
tie town changed. They became proud of their
new houses, proud of the cleanliness of their
streets. Joe had sort of commission ap-
pointed from among the natives, whose duty
it was to see mat the streets were kept free |
from refuse, and that the houses were properly
He became the acknowledged head of the
village. The helpless cripple had become the
powerful leader.
But he was not content to lead the inactive
life of an invalid. He taught himself to hunt |
Last year when the seals came racing down the
coast he made his natives fasten him to great
oomak or skin coat Surrounded by some of
his men, he went out to the hunt; and shooting
AZ seals, brought them in himself Mighty |
hunter, also, this once helpless Eskimo cripple.