following form. The editor gave the story a place on the front page.
"Billy" Dyer, 2 year old son of
William Dyer, owner of the Dyer
foundry in Chicago, was playing in
the yard of his home at 1716 North
Elmwood avenue, Hyde Park, yesterday
with his little sister Mary. Suddenly
"Billy," who was standing on
the wooden top of a cistern, disappeared.
There was nothing supernatural in his disappearance, because the wood in the cistern cover was rotten, but it struck little Mary as being so remarkable that she lost the power of speech. She is little more than a year old, and she couldn't talk much, anyway.
Just at this moment a peddler came into the backyard. He saw Mary gazing fixedly at the open cistern and asked her what she saw.
"Bruvver's down there," vouchsafed Mary, regaining her tongue and pointing.
The peddler took a look into the cistern and then seized a near-by mop. "Billy's" head was still bobbing above the surface of the water when the peddler got back with the mop, but when he looked into the cistern again the boy slipped off the cover of the cistern, which had gone down with him, and went under. The peddler waited until the boy's head appeared again and then he deftly stuck the end of the mop under Billy's chin and pinned his head against the masonry.
Meanwhile the peddler had not been silent. Mrs. Dyer heard his shouts, and, gathering their portent, rushed to the telephone and called the fire department. Axel Hansen also heard the sounds. Axel has long legs. He came running.
