Evening star., 1931-12-11
CRIPPLED SINCE Il,
MAN AIDS OTHERS
Bedridden 20 Years, He Runs
Sunshine Department
for Destitute.
BY the Associated Press.

PASSAIC, NJ J., December Ito
day in his private solartum In St.
Mary,s Hospital Tom SINNERS observed
the twentieth anniversary Of the fall
ing of the boom that broke his back,
legs. fingers and toes and changed him
from a burIy iron worker into such a
shapeless wreck that surgeons were
astonished that he still breathed. He
was 20 years old.
His head and shoulders are still mas
sive, the head and shoulders Of a man
whose vigorous legs supported 185
pounds of muscle in a frame only a
quarter of an inch under six feet
He no longer remembers how it felt
to walk and skate and dance, nor does
he, on the other hand, remember ex-
actIy how ii felt 20 years ago not to
read books and use his head. for he
has undergone not only physical change
but mental as well.
Writes to Cheer Others.
For seven years he was unable to
move as much as finger or toe. His
sleep was mad procession of spec
tiers OF himself swimming in the Hud-
son at NeWburgh, N, Y; skating on the
Ice OF the river with the cold wind in
his face, of himself working In Passatc
before the boom snapped from it's base
on the derrick. And his waking hours
were consumed by an unsnding desire
to sleep.
He can move now. His arms are
more pliable and he can raise his head
He even writes-on a typewriter. tan-
ping out about 1000 letters a wear To
friends and strangers, mostly letters
Of cheer to turn away from others the
gloom That encompassed his soul for
SO long.
He found salvation In reading, and
because he had never read mich Of
anything he read everything when he
started. poetry of all degrees of ex-
cellence, history, economies. politics
astronomy, biology, fiction, banking
drama, philosophy and travel. words
whose meanings glimmered family in
nls untutored mind. In 20 years he
mas SKINNED. ploughed, waded and
struggled through 1000 volumes.
lie places Rupert Hughes above
shakespeare for punch and clarity Al
pert PaXson Terhune he ranks above
Dresser and Proust.
HIS checks are red and his eyes
gsain as. eyes ere supposed to beam.
Is nS peoslde Is private telephone.
H. ~ hls room are books and a radio.
r.. N.AAS to6o anu Tie doesn't Ieel
IKE reading he listens to the radio.
\ Runs Sunshine Department.
In the beginning he read about IA
nours a day. Then he cut his reading
aoWn TO mere 10 hours a day. That
was when he began his correspondence
WIN the world at large. He receives
about 5000 letters a year from every
part OF the globe. During the war he
wrote to members of the Rainbow Divi-
sion IN France .and was made an
honorary member He's known In the
Far East and Australia, Africa and
europe and South America,
nurses who tended him Is and more
years ago write to him. But his chief
Work Is as manager of the Sunshine De-
partment, which cares for Passaic,s
destitute Z and others In distress. Through
MS telephone he can reach many men
ana women who are willing to heIp and
nus courage and smile have won him SO
many friends they never refuse to Lend
Tom a hand. 'e''A
In 1928 he campaigned on the tvpe-
writer for Al Smith. He's a dyed-in-
Lne-Wool Democrat That Summer also
ne was taken to the National Guard
at Peekskill, N. Z.
FOR two hours every day he is al
!oWed to sit up In wheel chair An
IN an, Tom thinks he has had pretty
OWN "A 0aA'