Evening star., 1926-11-10
HOSPITALS STAFF IN HEROIC
EFFORT TO SAVE LITTLE LIVES
Providence Experts Work Valiantly Over
Wounded Children as Kindly Priest
Comforts Fearful Hearts.

hospital with some Of the other little
victims, had promised him that he
could return home right after the doc
tors had treated him, 1t seems, for
when one of the Sisters suggested he
remain at Providence all night he
would not hear Of it. When last seer
Dick was grinning through his tears
over the shoulder Of a La Plata man
who was carrying him to an automo-
bile for the drive home.
Dicks brother Jack, who is 10 years
old, was killed outright at the school.
A tale of real heroisrn seeped out of
one Of the wards and down the cor
ridors. Edwin Clarence Turner, II
years old, was in the schoolroom
when the wind blast struck. He
darted to the door and was about to
escape In safety when he suddenly
thought Of his little sister, Charlotte
May Turner, who Is 8. He halted
abruptly on the doorsill and at that
instant the building crashed and a
beam plunged down upon his head.
Saved Little Sister.
Almost blinded by the blood from
the resulting wound, Edwin groped
back into the debris that had an in
slant before been his school. He
found his sister pinned beneath the
furnace and he struggled to free her
AS he fell stumbling away from the
scene with the little sister in his
arms, he was picked up by one of the
first men to reach the scene-his
father. James Turner@and both chill
dren were brought to Washington.
Charlotte's heel was crushed from her
foot, but the children were said to be
certain of recovery.
James Turner, the father of Edwin
and Charlotte, gave the story Of his
own timely arrival:
II was starding on the porch of
my home just after lunch when the
storm came up and had a sort of
premonition about those children. I
first thought Of going to get them
right away, but then I thought that
surely they'd be all right-in the
school, you know-and I waited q lit
tie while. The storm got worse and 1
was just starting when some little
fellow came down the street crying
that the school had blown away.
Good God! I didn't think he knew
what he was talking about and 1
started running. I got near the
school and saw it and then I ran UP
and found my little boy carrying my
little girl
Mr.. Turner was talking in the &C.
cident ward on the ground floor Of the
hospital and as he stopped some little
Fellow on the operating table cried
out:
"I'll be all right If you'll just give
me something to eat" But the wise
surgeons knew better what he needed
1@2 81
leg that twister eerily with the lads
writhing.
Along with the children came
three grown-up victims of the storms
ravages. They were Mr.. and Mrs.
James L. Padgett and Mrs. Margaret
Ann Jameson, 68 years old, whose
homes, near the school building, had
been demolished with 1t. They were
treated along with the youngsters
and assigned to rooms.
In Mothers Arms.
AS the evening at the hospital wore
on parents began to arrive. While
some mothers were permitted to
gather in their arms the children they
had not seen since they sent them to
school in the morning. others were
kept far away from the broken little
bodies they loved-tiny life threads
were being strained and were threat
ening to break at any moment.
Some Of those precious threads had
parted, for off in a room apart lay
three little bodies. Mary Ellen Bowie,
7-year.old daughter of Mrs. Claude
Bowie, died as she reached Washing
ton and her lifeless body was carried
to the little morgue to await her
whose husband died one year
ago today. Lillian Della, II, died as
she was placed upon the operating
table, and she was sent away to join
her little classmate in the morgue
Later in the evening Tilden Cooksey,
3. died in one Of the wards. Then Luz
ellie Edwards died while her parents
waited hopefully for some cheering
word from her bedside.
In all the confusion the Sisters and
nurses under the direction of Sister
Mary Berchmann, director of Provi-
dence Hospital, went quietly about
their tasks. A corps of physicians
and surgeons under Drs. James Ca
hill and F. r. Sanderson performed
all the operations known to them in
their efforts to cheat the tornado. DR..
j. A. Talbot, bone specialist Of the
institution, was one Of the busiest
men there, for over half of the in.
juries sustained by the children are
bone fractures-legs, arms, shoulders
and combinations Of them.
With the presence OF death and suf.
fering there remained with those who
watched and waited one thought
which was voiced b., one Of the men
from La Plata, who sobbed out con-
vulsively:
"Oh. God! II they were only men
and not little children!"