where
his parents settled, and he is at present engaged with his father in
the boat business, they owning one ferry and two tug-boats. He has
been living, since 1863, on the dock at the foot of Woodward Avenue,
Detroit, opposite Windsor, in Canada West, and the most dangerous
place on the river. Since May, 1863, he has saved more than one
hundred persons from drowning, distinguishing himself especially
during the great fire at the Detroit and Milwaukee railroad depot, on
the night of April 11, 1866, when he rescued nine persons from the
water. The citizens of Detroit presented him with a gold medal in
1869, and the Congress of the United States of America voted him
another in 1874. He is still living.

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ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS. (p. 458)

_Act of Congress Voting a Medal to John Horn, Jr._

_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled_: That the
President of the United States be authorized and directed to
cause to be prepared and presented to John Horn, junior, of
Detroit, Michigan, a gold medal, with appropriate devices and
inscriptions, in recognition and in commemoration of his heroic
and humane exploits in rescuing men, women and children from
drowning in the Detroit river.

Approved June 20, 1874.

_____

_John Horn, Jr., to Moses W. Field._

To the Honorable
Moses W. FIELD, Detroit, February 22, 1874.
House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.

Dear Sir: I have never desired a public statement of the service
which, under God, I have been able to render in saving human
life, but as you have asked me to send you a list of the men,
women and children whom I have rescued from drowning, I will do
so, so far as I can from memory. I have never kept a record of
the names, and the number is so great that you will excuse me if
I leave some unmentioned.

I think I have altogether saved more than one hundred human
beings, but I take no credit about this matter, and I have never
regretted doing what I have done in any case, although I have had
at times to keep my bed for many weeks on account of the exposure
in the cold weather. It is well for me that I had a good mother
to take care of me at such