This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.
In Glennwood Cemetery just south of the Rock River on the prairie in Henry County, lies the grave of Newsboy Billy. He lies among many others of his clan, the Glenns, in this pioneer cemetery. The Glenns built the first house in Henry County, in 1835, turned the first furrow with a homemade plow, and planted the first corn. Of all of the Glenns, however, Newsboy Billy had the largest funeral.
William Rugh was born in Rock Island in 1872 and grew up there. A fall early in life left him with a crippled left leg. In 1910, Billy moved to Gary, Indiana, and set up a news-stand. He might have lived an obscure life had fate not intervened. In August of 1912, a young woman, Ethel Smith, was severely burned in a motorcycle accident. Gary newspapers pleaded with someone to step forward to donate skin for a graft, to save Ethel's life. No one did. Her condition worsened.
Then, William Rugh, the newsboy, made an astounding proposal. Take the skin from his useless left leg for the woman he had never met, then amputate the leg.
Billy met Ethel for the first time in the operating room. Both operations went well. Ethel recovered and lived a long and useful life. Billy's stump seemed to be healing, too, but pneumonia set in. On October 18th, after a valiant fight, Newsboy Billy died.
Billy's death aroused the sympathy of the entire nation. Gary flags flew at half mast, and for the first time in history, the great steel mills of Gary closed for the hour of his funeral. 25,000 mourners packed the streets for two blocks around the church, reported the Davenport Democrat.
Newsboy Billy was brought back to Henry County by train, with an extra rail car to hold all the floral tributes from around the world. Following a parade of bands, Masons, Odd Fellows, Army recruits, and city officials, and a funeral at the Orion Methodist Church, Billy was buried among other Glenns in Glennwood Cemetery.
Newsboy Billy became the subject of sermons from pulpits across the United States, a hopeful sign that the fierce pioneer spirit of the first Glenns lived on—even in a newsboy.
Rock Island Lines with Roald Tweet is underwritten by Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois.
