In these times when the news is ful I of hate and violence, <\/em>when cruelty\u00a0and barbaric horror seem uppermost, it is good to note a few rays of sunshine\u00a0in a shadowed world.<\/p>\n One of those sunny rays is the story of the 25 Japanese Maidens. The man\u00a0chiefly responsible for that accomplishment, which shall describe in a moment;\u00a0is Norman Cousins, editor of the Saturday Review. am proud to know personally\u00a0the great American who worked out this experiment in good wi I I, for when\u00a0we had our first Co I by Convocat ion in 1953, I had the honor to be ~\u00b71r. Cous in’s\u00a0personal host, and thus came to know one of the great humanitarians in the modern\u00a0wor I d.<\/p>\n Mr. Cousins, visiting Hiroshima soon after the war, was appal led not so\u00a0much by the physical ruins left by the bomb as by the sight of the maimed, scarred\u00a0human beings who had not been given a merciful, instant death. by the awful\u00a0blast, but who were doomed to slow, painful dying by the effects of radioactive\u00a0rays.<\/p>\n It occurred to Mr. Cousins that American plastic surgery might help some\u00a0of the cases, especially the young. So the editor appealed to that wonderful\u00a0humanitarian agency of which Maine’s own Rufus Jones was once the distinguished\u00a0head — the Friends Service Committee. As a result, 25 girls, al I about\u00a018 to 20 years old, were selected in HiroShima, brought to New York, and given\u00a0required operations and treatment, al I at American expense. Ski I Iful surgeons\u00a0gave their services without fee, great hospitals provided free beds, and between\u00a0hospital visits the girls were housed in Quaker homes near New York.<\/p>\n In mid-June this year the girls returned home — al I but one of them. One\u00a0had died on the operating table. But, sad as her death was, it brought no defeatism\u00a0to the other girls. The girl scheduled for the next operation went directly\u00a0to the head nurse and said she was ready for the doctors immediately,\u00a0and please tell the doctors, she said, that al I the other girls were ready\u00a0too. They knew the kind doctors were not to blame for their comrade’s death.<\/p>\n Though most of the girls had changed their American homes three or four\u00a0times, the ties of the Quaker fami lies that bound them became strong and lasting.<\/p>\n This was especially true when there were chi Idren in the host’s fami Iy,\u00a0and many of the girls preferred to play with the chi Idren rather than go out.\u00a0Those 24 girls returned to Japan not completely freed from scars. MiracUlous\u00a0as is plastic surgery, it cannot completely restore battered faces to\u00a0their original condition. The girls understand that. But they know the value\u00a0of being able to use fingers that had been twisted out of shape, of being able\u00a0to eat without being fed, or to turn the head without turning the whole body.\u00a0But most of all they know the value of acceptance and affection and of having<\/p>\n a new chance to develop their own abilities.<\/p>\n A few weeks ago the mayor of Hiroshima wrote a long letter to Mr. Cousins,\u00a0tel ling about the arrival of the maidens in Japan. In that letter the mayor\u00a0said: HLet me again assure you that nothing can make us forget this project,\u00a0and nothing can depirve it of the vast spiritual significance which no one with\u00a0an honest heart can fa i I to see.<\/p>\n Those 24 maidens, whose lives were blasted by a single American atomic\u00a0bomb, go back to Japan with lives restored to usefulness by American understanding\u00a0and kindness. How wonderful it would be if the good wi II and humaneness\u00a0shown in this experience could so grip al I peoples of the earth that never\u00a0again would it be possible to drop on any Hiroshima anywhere in the world another\u00a0atomic bomb.<\/p>\n An interesting story of the old days concerns the robbery of the Norway\u00a0Savings Bank in 1867. At that time, nearly 90 years ago, the funds of that Oxford\u00a0town’s little savings bank were kept in an ordinary safe in the store of\u00a0Lee and Mixer, in the same bui Iding which later became the headquarters of one\u00a0of Maine’s best known weekly newspapers, the Norway Advertiser. Sometime\u00a0during the night of Saturday, September 21, the safe had been br0ken open and\u00a0its contents carried away.<\/p>\n The loss was discovered by Charles Sanderson, a Norway lawyer who was\u00a0himself one of the bank’s trustees. An early riser, he got up early that\u00a0Sunday morning and went out for a walk before sunrise. Noticing fresh tracks\u00a0of a horse and wagon leading to and from the Congregational horse sheds, Sanderson\u00a0suspected that thieves had been at work somewhere in the vi Ilage. At\u00a0once thinking of the Savings Bank, he went to the store where the bankTs bus~\u00a0iness was conducted. He found the door open, the safe door blown off its\u00a0hinges, and the safe empty.<\/p>\n Sanderson proved himself something of a detective. Measuring the horse’s\u00a0tracks, he found that the animal had a peculiar shaped shoe on one hoof to\u00a0prevent what horsemen cal I interfering. He noticed also that the suspected\u00a0team had departed in the direction of Oxford. Off he started in pursuit. He\u00a0was able to fol low the tracks through Welchvi I Ie and the Shaker Vi I lage on\u00a0Ricker Hi II to Gray Corner. There he procured a fresh horse before continuing\u00a0o n to Portland. A few mi les out of the city he found the same tracks near a\u00a0watering trough and knew he was sti I I on the trai I. After giving information\u00a0to the Portland police, Sanderson returned to Norway.<\/p>\n The next day Sanderson went to Boston. Feeling certain the robbers had\u00a0not yet had time to get far out of Maine, Sanderson and a Boston detective\u00a0stood watch at the station to observe persons taking trains for New York or\u00a0the West. Sanderson surmised — <\/strong>correctly as it turned out — <\/strong>that one or more\u00a0of the robbers could be recognized as someone who had been seen in Norway.<\/p>\n AI I at once Sanderson spotted a man whom he had known in Norway as Langdon\u00a0Moore. The man was stopped and questioned, but as there was no evidence\u00a0against him, he boarded the train. Sanderson and the detective fol lowed. On\u00a0the way to Springfield they passed through the train but saw nothing suspicious\u00a0about Moore, who was sitting with a man to whom he seemed a stranger.<\/p>\n Not unti I long afterward did they learn that Moore’s seatmate was Charles\u00a0Haight of New York, and that on the rack over their heads, in a big valise,\u00a0was money from the Norway safe.<\/p>\n The robbery turned out to have been the work of th ree men: Langdon Moore,\u00a0Char les Ha i ght and Truman Young of Nashua, New Hampsh ire, who was ca lied Doc\u00a0Young. Moore and Young had both spent some time in Norway and were recognized\u00a0by several citizens. The robbers got away with less than $3,500, although\u00a0they had expected to find at least $10,000. It was Young’s greed for more which\u00a0led to their discovery and conviction.<\/p>\n Abandoning Moore and Haight, Young at once planned another robbery, this\u00a0time at a bank in Cornish. He was caught and turned over to a deputy sheriff\u00a0for transportation to the county jai I at Alfred:<\/p>\n Hearing of this robbery, Sanderson thought it might have been committed by\u00a0the same gang that had robbed the Norway Bank. So off he started for Cornish.<\/p>\n There he learned that the deputy, with Young in his custody, had left only an\u00a0hour before for Alfred. On going into the Saco House at Saco, Sanderson\u00a0learned that Young and the deputy had stopped there for dinner and were sti I I\u00a0in the hotel. When they emerged from the dining room, Sanderson put his hand\u00a0on Young’s shoulder and told him he was under arrest. The deputy, who already\u00a0had Young under arrest and on the way to jai I, protested: “What ri ght have you\u00a0to take th is man?:’ he demanded. Sanderson produced a warrant for Young’s arrest\u00a0for robb i ng the Norway bank. The deputy drew his revo I ver and announced\u00a0that he would bore a hole through Sanderson if he did not let the prisoner\u00a0alone. TTBore away~l, said the Norway lawyer, !7but I’m going to keep hold of\u00a0him”; and Sanderson held his grip unti I the Saco city marshall appeared, honored\u00a0Sanderson’s warrant, and himself took charge of the prisoner.<\/p>\n The Oxford County authorities secured custody of him, after much wrangling\u00a0and at the March term of court, Young was brought to trial for robbery of the\u00a0Norway bank. The defense attorney stated that the p I ace that was robbed was\u00a0not a banking house, but merely a store with the bank’s money in its safe, and\u00a0therefore the indictment was defective in charging Young with breakinq and enteri\u00a0ng a bank. Neverthe less the jury found the man gui Ity, and he qot a sentence\u00a0of nine years at hard labor.<\/p>\n After he got to the prison in Thomaston, Young implicated Moore and Haight,\u00a0of whose gui It Sanderson had al I along felt certain. From Young the authorities\u00a0finally learned detai Is of the robbery. Having spent some time in Norway,\u00a0Young decided breaking the safe in the store-located savings bank would be easy\u00a0for an expert craftsman. Knowing such an expert in the person of Moore, he\u00a0induced the latter to corre to Norway and look over the s ituat ion. Moore agreed\u00a0that it should be an easy job.<\/p>\n Young hired a team in Portland and a few mi les beyond Gray Corner, he\u00a0picked up Moore and Ha i ght, wa i ti ng there by previ ous arrangement. The horse\u00a0had a pecu liar shoe on one hoof. They reached Norway vi II age about 10 0′ clock\u00a0on Saturday evening, and put their team in the horse sheds of the Congregation~.\u00a0a I Church. There they waited unti I they fe It sure the whole vi 1 I age was in\u00a0bed.<\/p>\n It was a bright moonlit night. On reaching the vicinity of the store,\u00a0Young posted himself behind a tree to watch for unlikely, but possible, passersby,\u00a0whi Ie Moore and Haight entered the bui Iding through a window. After\u00a0hanging a piece of cloth over the window to prevent be,t.ng seen from the outside,\u00a0they bored a hole in the safe door, fi I led the hole with powder and attached\u00a0a fuse. After making sure that there was no one in the bui Iding or in the\u00a0street, Moore lighted the fuse. He had just joined Young and Haight across\u00a0the street when the explosion occurred.<\/p>\n Seeing that apparently no one had been awakened by the noise, the thugs\u00a0reentered the store, scooped the contents of the safe into a bag, and departed.<\/p>\n On the way to Oxford they stopped to examine the loot and divided it into\u00a0three equal parts. Among the things taken were papers of no value to the robbers,\u00a0but of much consequence to the bank. These they buried under a tree a\u00a0few yards from the road.<\/p>\n Reaching Portland early Sunday evening, they returned the team to its\u00a0owner and hired another to drive to Great Falls, New Hampshire, where they\u00a0arri ved before day light on Monday morni ng. There they broke up, Young goi ng\u00a0his way, wh i Ie Moore and Ha i ght went on to New York.<\/p>\n With the characteristic honor among thieves, Moore showed unusual concern\u00a0for the bank’s papers. In such circumstances a robber usually throws away what\u00a0he cannot use. But in this instance Moore made a careful diagram and sent it\u00a0to the bank’s president. Sure enough, the papers were found under a tree near\u00a0Oxford, just as Moore’s diagram described. Of course it was long afterward\u00a0before the authorities knew where the diagram came from, but Young’s eventual\u00a0arrest and confess i on brought a II to light.<\/p>\n What was important next for the bank officials was to get return of at\u00a0least a part of the loot. I t was the c lever Sanderson who thought of a p I an.<\/p>\n He knew of ~~oore ‘s reputed hi gh-mi ndedness and had learned from Young that it\u00a0was r~ore who had made and sent the diagram. So he wrote a letter to Moore at\u00a0an address which Young said would eventually reach the man. In the letter Sanderson\u00a0spread a sentimental appeal, saying that much of the stolen property was\u00a0the life savings of poor people, earned by long hours in shop and factory, and\u00a0urged Moore to use his influence to recover the money. The letter worked, for\u00a0shortly afterward a man shovJed up ready to negotiate a settlement. He returned\u00a0to New York wiTh the bank’s te rms \u2022 A fte r a few wee ks, the same man came aga i n\u00a0to Norway with the money. Before handing it over, he demanded from the bank\u00a0officers a signed release of Moore and Haight from any I iabillity to the bank,\u00a0the promise nOT to prosecute them for burglary, and the handing over of the extradition\u00a0papers that could be used to bring them from New York. The bank officers\u00a0refused to sign any such agreement, as iT would clearly implicate them\u00a0in a felony. The gO-between returned to New York for further consultation.<\/p>\n Finally, by arrangement with the legal authoriTies, the bank officers agreed\u00a0to the robbers’ terms. The money was returned and the culprits escaped prosecution.<\/p>\n But not for long. Moore and Haight couldn’t keep their hands off\u00a0money easi Iy plucked from safes. They were soon arrested for robbing a bank\u00a0at Rockland, and each got seven years in Thomaston.<\/p>\n Thus ended the Norway bank robbery. The perpetrators mi ght never have\u00a0been discovered if it had not been for the keen eyes and the persistence of\u00a0Norway’s early-rising lawyer, Charles Sanderson, who noted that someone late\u00a0at night had driven out of Norway a horse with a peculiar shoe.<\/p>\n Year: 1956<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Read the script for “Little Talks” program #313, broadcast on October 7, 1956<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":405,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[790,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7660"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/405"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7660\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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