Evening star., 1937-08-08
LOVE Of MOTHER
INSPIRES SONS
Widow of Hindenburg Crash
Victim Leads Injured
BOYS to Health.

POINT PLEASANT. N. j., August
Z (N.ANA).-The good news from
here Is that Mathilde Doehner and
her two sons, Werner 8, and Walter,
10, have quit Boro's Beach Hospital
and have boarded a train for their
home in Mexico City.
There they will take up again the
hfe that has been in q state Of sus-
pension since the night of May 8, when
the dirigible Hindenhurg burned and
crashed. Hermann Doehner, ~, head
OF the family, manufacturer OF in
dustrial chemicals and owner OF a
pharmaceutical supply house, never
LETT the dirigible alive. His body was
identified by the wedding ring on the
fourth finger Of his left hand.
Irene, l6, Mrs. Doehner's second
born and only daughter, blond and
blue-eyed girl, shy, quiet, pretty. left
the dirigible with her mother and two
brothers in an ambulance. When the
doctor examined her he said, THE
best she can hope for is to die fast"
It took her half the night to waste
her strong, young life away.
So, horribly, began as heroic a story
as q mother has ever written. 1t Is
quite simple story.
Physician Pays Tribute.
Her heroism consisted in remaining
the leader, helper and teacher Of her
two youngest sons, soothing their pain,
fighting of the generalization and
weakening OF mental health and moral
hber that frequently attends such a
catastrophe as the one through which
they lived. She had to do this while
her mind was numbed with grief for
her dead husband and dead daughter
and while she herself lay in a hospital
bed swathed in bandages and suffer-
ing great physical pain.
The only mention she has received
thus far for the successful completion
OF her task were the words OF DR.. Harry
s. Ivory, the country doctor who re-
stored her and her sons to health. He
said, She is great woman"
Fear Rose Like Panic.
In the twilight OF that May Wednes-
day, the father was of somewhere as
the airship floated down to her moor
ing and the mother stood with three
OF her children. Her oldest boy, Kurt,
2l. was In Germany student at the
Darmstadt Technical School, Her
eecond-born, Hermann, II, was at
home In Mexico City.
The children peered eXcitedly out
OF the window, but the mother stood
with. she says, an inexplicable dread
mounting in her. She had not wanted
to make the flight. When the ship
was over New York, her husband
had pointed out the buildings to her
and had said, Now aren't you glad
we took the Hindenburg and saved
two days2 We might still be at sea-"
I'll be glad when we're on the
ground" she had said.
There were only minutes separat-
Ing her and her family from the
ground now, but, she said today, the
emotion Of being so near the end of
peril, OF being so near a relief from
the fear she had had to suppress for
her children's sake through all the
voyage, rose in her like a panic.
Then sudden, soft sound, a slow
shudder, the flames leaping up like
q wall before their startled eyes, the
children recoiling, screaming, pulling
at her, glass crashing, metal rending,
the quick slap OF frightened feet
against the composition deck. Mrs.
Doehner shot quick glance around
for her husband, could not find him,
tried to lift her daughter through
the window. She was too heavy. She
was unnerved with fear.
Tossed Sons From Ship.
Mrs. Doehner was losing valuable
seconds. She picked up the first at
nd-Walter-forced him through
the shattered glass and flames and
into space, grabbed Werner and
swung him out to follow his brother,
saw her daughter away. Then \ last,
long look around for her husband,
who knew where they were, who must
be fighting to join them.
She had her purse in her hand.
1t was filled with her jewels. She
had time and nerve to think the
purse might be lost In the confusion
on the ground. She took her jewels
and put them on. Then she couldn't
wait any more. She stepped to the
hot, twisted window-ledge and dove
head-f1rst through the scorching burst
OF flames and landed on the ground
unconscious, her hip broken in three
places.
Fight Not Over Yet.
On that night the long, long fight
was only the beginning. 1t Is not
vet over. Mrs. Doehner had five
blood transfusions, her sons seven.
She had one operation, Walter two.
Werner three. Today only Werner
still shows, on one side OF his face,
the scars Of his experience. In the
Fall, he will return here for another,
and, 1t Is hoped the last, plastic
operation
During their 90 days here, the
family wrote medical history. Mrs.
Doehner and Werner had suffered
third-degree burns over almost three
quarters Of their skin surface. In all
previous cases on record, according
to doctors here, when half the skin
surface is burned so severely, the
patient dies.
But DR.. Ivory, 37-year-old chief Of
stan OF the hospital here, tried COM
paratively new treatment on them
injections Of preparation from an
extract Of the suprarenal glands. The
great danger in burn cases is that,
the function of the skin to drain of
toxic poisons having been destroyed,
the poisons accumulate in the body,
wear down the walls of the blood
vessels and make them porous The
blood leaks through, the veins collapse
and death results. This preparation
Is calculated to offset this action and