GIVES HIS BLOOD.

Waikato Times, Volume 97, Issue 15185, 10 March 1923, Page 14 (Supplement)

GIVES HIS BLOOD.

A STRANGE "PROFESSION."

PAID 1500 DOLLARS BY CARUSO

Great men and humble have been described from very many viewpoints, yet Harry Fcnstad, of Sixth Street, New York, has a new and ,most modern angle. A few moments after he had been freed in Night Court on a suspended sentence for drunkenness, Fenstad was proving himself an intimate biographer of men and women living and dead—in moments of extremity. Fenstad is one of that little group of "professionals" benefactor of humanity, Magistrate Ryttenbcrg called him —who render up their life fluid in times of need: Much of what he said was too intimate for repetition, but here is a little story he told about Caruso: ~ .. . . He was summoned from a list or availables to give blood to the tenor, then very ill, he said. He gave two pints. Caruso was "a peach." He behaved, splendidly. When ft was,all over one of the singer's men of business paid him 500 dollars. He accepted it without a murmur. Before he could depart, Caruso sent for him. He quoted the tenor as exclaiming, "Only 500 dollars for two pints of blood! The blood of a man is worth more than that. It is worth 750 dollars a pint at least. Pay him 1500 dollars." A moment more, said Fenstad, and he was cashing the check, the most generous recompense he ever had received for his sacrifice. Though he claims a record of 206 transfusions, Fenstad weighs 208 pounds. He is about 6 feet tall. The life seems to agree with him. He was arrested in South Street for creating a disturbance. He used to be a sailing master, and usually makes for the waterfront when he feels that way.

In court he said that he was summoned to Mt. Sinai Hostital late in the night to give blood to a woman whose legs had been amputated after an automobile accident. He felt so weak afterwards that two drinks were given to him. They tasted like more and trouble resulted. . Fenstad was candid when Magistrate Ryttenberg asked him had he ever been arrested before. Once,' he said, and under very similar circumstances. He pleaded guilty this time, hut escaped with a few kind words.