On This Date in Minnesota History: December 22

December 22, 1912 – Today’s Minneapolis Morning Tribune’s issue told a heartwarming story about railroad magnate James J. Hill and a young man who had lost his legs.

James J. Hill¹

Walter De Barrow, 17 years old, whose legs were recently amputated in a Great Northern Railroad accident, will soon leave Spokane, Wash., to be a Christmas guest of the Hill family in St. Paul.

Hill was interested in the case through the boy’s own initiative. While recuperating at the Spokane poor farm, young De Barrow wrote Hill, shouldering all the blame for the loss of his legs and asking if there was not some railroad work he could do for the Great Northern.

Great Northern Railway²

The St. Paul financier replied at once, offering the youth artificial limbs, an education if he desires it, and the promise of a life job on the railroad. In spite of his age, it is said that the boy has been a wanderer for years and lost his legs while “beating his way” through the West. He has no knowledge of his parents, and when injured, was without friends.

¹http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:James_J._Hill_at_35.jpg

²Chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86063381/issues/1920/

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