A YOUTHFUL HERO.

Auckland Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 143, 18 June 1887, Page 3 (Supplement)

A YOUTHFUL HERO.

RomarlEEiMe Feat of a Twolve-Yoar-Old Boy. An application has been made to the Secretary of the Treasury, Washington, for a medal to be given to a boy of 12 years, under the law which permits those who haye saved life by heroic rescue to be so dis tinguished. The lad's namo is Walter Kernochan. His father is a merchant of wealth in New York, and his undo'is LoriUnrd, the tobacco manufacturer. Last fall, whilo wandering along the banks of the Shrewsbury River in New Jersey, near his father's summer home, the: boy's nurse, Annie Snvefte, fell into the water. She sank tw.ee, and then, according to thoaflidavitsjpresented, tho child hearing her cries, ran to her assistance, and, throwing off his coat, sprang into the stream, seized her by the hair, held her head above water and swam ashore. He weighs less than sixty pounds, she more than ] 20. He is shown by evidenae to bo a phenomenal swimmer for a lad of his age, and to have taken to the water like a duck before he shed his petticoats. While the claim is regarded as unusual, and there are sceptics : who cannot be convinced that such a fer.fj 'could be performed by a boy of his age and '•weight, it is probable that he will be given a medal by the Government, as ho has already received one from the Humane Society of New York.