What began as a cruel joke nearly cost a teenage boy his life.
Seventeen-year-old James Fry was locked inside a freight car at Peru, Indiana, by practical jokers who may never have imagined how far their prank would go.
Days later, the car reached Cincinnati, where patrolmen found him frozen, starving, and nearly out of his mind from suffering.
When they tried to give him food, he was so desperate that he attempted to swallow a roll whole.
Nearly Fatal Was Joke
CINCINNATI, Ohio. — With both feet and hands frozen, half starved and semi-insane from his physical condition, James Fry, a 17-year-old boy, was found in a freight car here. He had been locked in the car last Tuesday at Peru, Indiana, by practical jokers.
When the patrolmen who found him tried to feed him a roll, Fry endeavored to swallow it whole. He was taken to the city hospital.
Physicians hold out little hope for his recovery.
Source: The Democratic Banner. Mt. Vernon, Ohio. January 23, 1912.
