When fire destroyed her home in a Chicago suburb, 14-year-old Roberta Lee Mason rescued four brothers & sisters. But she was burned so badly that she had to be swathed in bandages from head to foot. Her throat-catching picture (TIME, Feb. 28) made front pages across the U.S. Soon money, clothes, even chewing gum began to pour in; everybody wanted to "do something for Roberta." But what the Masons needed was a new house.
Managing Editor Eliezer ("Lou") Shainmark of Hearst's Chicago Herald-American saw a way to combine a good deed and a good story. He got his labor editor to talk...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
