Sam is cured

All the way from Los Angeles to Manhattan went blind Sam Langford, onetime great Negro fighter. Boxing fans, led by one Hype Igoe, boxing authority for The New York World, had subscribed to bring Sam east for an eye operation which one Dr. James W. Smith promised to perform out of sheer admiration for him.

Into the hospital went Sam under the name of "Joseph Price" and within a few hours the operation was performed. Some time later the doctor removed the bandages from his eyes. Said the specialist: "What kind of a tie have I got on, Joe?" "You've got a blue bow tie there, Doc -- suah is blue an' suah is bow." "That's fine. Now take a look around." Joe (that is, Sam) did, and there was no mistaking that he had recovered the sight of one eye-- the other is permanently blind. A few days later Sam left the hos pital "on his own steam," as he put it. He was happy. He smiled. "It's wonderful," said he, "to be able to take a man out of the darkness. There must be some satisfaction for the Doc in that. He's a marvelous man. You've all made me the happiest man in the world. Only a man who has lost his sight and had it brought back to him can under stand how I feel. Just bless you all!"