PORTO RICO’S HERO

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 August 1940, Page 9

PORTO RICO’S HERO

SAVER OF TWO HUNDRED LIVES.

At Porto Rico, one of the West Indian islands, is a statue of a Negro. He has a heavily lined face, thick lips, overhanging forehead. but there is vigour in every feature, and looking at the head we feel that here is a man of strength of body and of mind. Below the statue —which cost nothing but the bronze, for the sculptor gave his services, and all the incidental charges were waived by those who wished to pay tribute to a magnificent character —are the words: Victor Rojas. Saver of 2CO lives. Victor Rojas was born in 1832. He was truly astonishing, for although not tall, he was immensely powerful, and when the fiercest cyclones swept Porto Rico, the sea roaring on the dangerous and exposed coast of Arecibo, he sat there on a rock, the waves pounding him. He was waiting for the moment which almost always came in times of stress like that.

Presently a ship would be swept from her moorings, and the men on board would look for death. That was Victor’s opportunity. A poor fisherman, he had a great soul, and his one passion was the saving of lives.

Instantly he saw men in distress — their nationality meant nothing to him —he drove an iron bar into the sand, fastened a rope round his waist, and plunged into the sea. He swam against wind and tide. He never failed to reach the doomed ship. He compelled frightened men to hold on to him. and dragged himself back to the shore. How he did it, no one ever knew , but he did it time and time again.

Few heroes have faced death more boldly. Poor Victor. He was a coloured man and the police hated him for his popularity. One day he sold two. fish without first paying a small fee to the Customs. It was a technical offence, but the police made the most of it, and simple Victor found himself imprisoned for two months.

It broke his spirit. He dare not show his face. From prison he went to an asylum, and there he died.