14. The Newsboy of Gary

Billy Rough was a crippled newsboy who owned a news-stand on a busy street corner in Gary, Ind. But, though a cripple, Billy was such a cheerful soul that he did far more than sell newspapers. He gave away sunshine. He knew his customers and was interested in all their affairs. As he handed them their papers he asked, with neighborly cheerfulness, about their welfare. If the crippled boy had troubles himself, no one ever knew of them. He was far more anxious to help others bear their burdens than to add to them by any tales of his own woes. One day he read in the newspaper of a young girl who had been terribly burned as the result of a motorcycle accident. The doctors said her life could only be saved by grafting some one else’s skin upon the burned flesh. Billy Rough said to himself: “I’m only a poor cripple. My life is not of much account. I will offer my skin.” He was told that amputation would be necessary and very dangerous. He said: “If it will save the girl, take it off. I’ll save money. I’ll only have to buy one shoe. The leg is of no use to me. Maybe it’ll help her. I’d like to be of some use to some one.” He saved her life, but lost his own, for soon after the grafting, he died, saying: “I’m glad I done it. Yes, I’m going, but I was some good in the world after all.” The Mayor of Gary, impressed with this heroic self-sacrifice, issued a proclamation announcing that contributions for a memorial would be received. Nine hundred dollars, which had been sent in for his use before he died, were turned over to the memorial committee. A statue in Jefferson Park, a bronze tablet in the building where his news-stand stood, and an endowed room in the Gary Hospital where he lay before his death, all testify that the name of Billy Rough, the crippled newsboy and hero of Gary, will have an enduring place in the annals of American heroes.