atlantic guardian
atlantic guardian
atlantic guardian
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Nick Pirgello's face was empty<br />
of any trace of emotion, save for<br />
a sardonic smile hovering around<br />
his mouth. His cold black eyes<br />
swept the group before him, and<br />
he was heard by those near him<br />
to murmur, almost as if to himself,<br />
"The vultures have gathered."<br />
The warden's voice, hard and<br />
clear, rang through the yard,<br />
14Have you anything to say, Nick<br />
Pirgello?"<br />
"No!"<br />
The guards led the condemned<br />
man to the steps of the gallows.<br />
With a barely perceptible lift of<br />
his shoulders he commenced to<br />
walk up to the platform, and thc<br />
hangman. Stopping directly under<br />
the crossbeam of the scaffold he<br />
turned and faced the hushed group<br />
before him. The smile was gone.<br />
His face was like molded white<br />
marble, his eyes stared ahead unblinking.<br />
Swiftly, the hooded hangman<br />
slipped the black cowl over Pirgello's<br />
head and stepped back.<br />
Father Lundon began "I am the<br />
Resurrection and the Life . . . "<br />
The body of Nick Pirgello quivered<br />
in midair and then plunged<br />
through the trap.<br />
The rope from the crossbeam<br />
jerked and swayed, gradually becoming<br />
steady. His Majesty's government<br />
had foreclosed the mortgage.<br />
But there is a short postscript<br />
(0 the story of Nick Pirgello.<br />
When they cut down the body<br />
they noted his hands. One hand<br />
was opened. The other was clenched.<br />
Prying open the cold, stiff<br />
fingers they found a small gold<br />
crucifix. One arm of the crucifix<br />
was bent, so hard had the fingers<br />
gripped it.<br />
lB<br />
LITTLE BAY'S<br />
TWO HEROES<br />
by THOMAS HUSSEY<br />
The proud record: A V.C. in the first<br />
Great War and a D.F.C. in World War II<br />
TWO outstanding<br />
heroes from a<br />
small place of<br />
a few hundred<br />
people is the<br />
rare distinction<br />
that can<br />
be claimed by<br />
Little Bay<br />
James Thomas Head, Min e S , in<br />
D.f.C. Notre Dame<br />
Bay, well down on the northern<br />
coast of Newfoundland.<br />
Little Bay Mines was a thriving<br />
community of several thousand<br />
residents during the latter part of<br />
last century. But then the markets<br />
slumped and the copper mines<br />
there were forced to close. A great<br />
number of the families found their<br />
way to other parts of the world,<br />
many of them going to the Coal<br />
Mines at Glace Bay, Cape Breton.<br />
Among those going to Glace Bay<br />
were Mr. and Mrs. James Croak<br />
and Mr. and Mrs. James Head.<br />
JOHN BERNARD CROAK, V.C.<br />
John Bernard (Jack) Croak, son<br />
of Mr. and Mrs. James Croak, had<br />
been born at Little Bay on May<br />
22nd, 1895, and was about four<br />
years old when his family left<br />
(here. He was educated in Nova<br />
Scotia and later went to the Canadian<br />
West, where he was residing<br />
ATLANTIC GUARDIAN