ARKANSAS NEWS FROM 1916: 'Heroic' parrot's cries save two lives

Page one of the Sept. 26, 1916, Arkansas Gazette
Page one of the Sept. 26, 1916, Arkansas Gazette

Newspaper readers know how to read the newspaper, whether they know they do or not.

By osmosis (if not direct education in school) we know that whatever story shows up on the front page of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette includes consequential information. It might affect us as taxpayers. It might be about the people we entrust to run the government. It might relate to public health or safety, war or the near occasion of war.

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Headline from Sept. 26, 1916, Arkansas Gazette page one.

It might be boring news, but, by golly, it is important boring news. We should pay attention.

One hundred years ago, the front page of the Arkansas Gazette also alerted readers to the day's most significant reports by playing them across the top of the front page.

Page 1 had seven long and narrow columns of small type -- a vast space -- and most days, the local news didn't amount to enough importance to fill the page.

Seven "big stories" were usually lined up from right to left across the top of the page, with the most serious item atop the far right-hand column. Packed in below them would be quite the jumble of short state, national and international items. A typical Page 1 might carry 30 reports.

Every so often as I wander the archives of the old newspaper, I bump into an issue when the story selection makes me stop and think twice. Take, for instance, Sept. 26, 1916.

Here are the seven top stories on the front page that day, from right to left. One of them is not like the others. See if you can spot it.

1. Get Evidence On Doctor Drumming: Many Hot Springs Physicians And Hotel Men Said To Be Implicated

2. Expedition Commander To Be A Major General: Gen. Pershing To Be Major General

3. New Laws To Open Era Of Prosperity: Democratic Legislation Makes Greater Business Possible, Wilson Says

4. Parrot Goes To His Death A Hero

5. Allies Smash On Toward Combles

6. Explosion Wrecks Mine: Seven Men Near Death

7. Venizelos Goes To Lead In Rebellion: Former Greek Premier Said To Have Quit Athens For Saloniki

Did you pick No. 4? Ding, ding, ding!

How did that end up on Page 1? Let's read it.

Parrot Goes To His Death

A Hero

"Paul, a parrot, died a hero in the fire that destroyed the home of his owner, Mrs. J.E. Kennedy, 2907 Asher avenue, about 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon.

"The parrot's cries enabled Mrs. Kennedy to save the life of a neighbor's child, who was asleep in the home, and also two cages of canaries. But while she was

searching for $170 in currency that she had hidden and which she did not find, the roof fell in and Paul went to a heroic death.

"Mrs. Kennedy's hair was singed, her face and right forearm burned, and she is prostrated from the shock and from grief over the loss of her pet.

"Paul's cage was hung in the kitchen. The fire started from a coal oil stove.

"'Fire! Fire! Fire!' screamed Paul.

"His cries alarmed Mrs. Kennedy, who was busy with housework in the front rooms. Cleo Turley, four years old, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. Turley, 2913 Asher avenue, was asleep in a bedroom. The little girl is very fond of Mrs. Kennedy and a frequent visitor at her home.

Child Is Saved

"Mrs. Kennedy ran to the kitchen, saw the room ablaze and hurried back to save the child. As she turned, she heard Paul calling, "Mother, take me out, take me out." Paper on the walls caught fire quickly and the whole house was soon burning, making it impossible to rescue the parrot. His cries of "fire, fire" were heard until just before the roof fell.

"When Mrs. Kennedy ran from the home the first time, she told Mrs. P.D. Huff, 2905 Asher avenue, that the house was afire, and Mrs. Huff turned in the alarm. The house was badly burned before the Fire Department arrived.

"The residence of Mr. Turley, adjacent to the Kennedy home, was almost destroyed. The furniture was practically ruined. The Huff home was damaged slightly.

"Mrs. Kennedy said her home is insured, but she did not know how much insurance was carried. A library valued at $1,000, a valuable piano and other furnishings destroyed by the fire, were not insured. Mr. Kennedy is employed by the Pierce Oil Corporation."

WHY LAUGH?

The headline struck everyone I showed it to as funny -- at first. I think we laughed because of the incongruity of placing a bird's death on the front of the newspaper, up there with the wars, the rumors of wars and wicked doctors in Hot Springs who were bilking desperate invalids.

Also, the bogus suggestion that the poor bird had been trying to save humans as it cried for help allowed us to imagine the newspaper editors snickering. Paul was not trying to rescue that child, and the editors knew it.

But settle the mind, imagine the scene as it was so vividly described. Then it's not funny at all. It's awful.

I had an Irish great uncle with an encyclopedic memory for the history of the wrongs endured by our ancestors. His voice on an old tape recording vibrates with suppressed rage -- while recounting the theft of a cow. But the children in his generation had been orphaned, snookered, evicted from their home and driven by hunger to emigrate. How funny he made that.

"We laugh," he said, "so we will not weep."

Next week: Landing On Bridge May Yield 'Cure' For Drunks

ActiveStyle on 09/26/2016

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