David Crowley and Cranberries

by Allison Pekel

As an Intern on the Boston Local TV News Project you might enter data for 200 or more cards on any given day, so it makes sense that the cards that have unusual wording or cover an especially exciting news event start to stand out to you. For example, after logging hundreds of cards on Boston’s city council you may stumble on a title that at first glance sounds strange, like “Cranberry Juice: Official Juice of the State.” A little bit of research later and you find that, incidentally, cranberry juice was declared the official juice of the state in 1970 in honor of the Massachusetts cranberry industry. Click here to vote to digitize these stories.

One of the events in this week’s batch that sparked my interest was a card on someone named Daniel Crowley. Of the many cards bearing his name a few read something like this, “Found after being lost for eight days on New Hampshire Mountain.” This seemed pretty intense to me - I mean who hasn’t seen the movie 127 hours (after all that Oscar buzz this year) about a man struggling to survive after being trapped in the middle of nowhere by a boulder for five days?

So with my imagination running wild I did a little bit of digging through the Boston Globe’s archives once again, only to discover that Daniel Crowley was a twelve year-old boy.

Apparently, David was with other campers when he got tired and lagged behind on a hike to the top of Mt. Passaconaway. Upon the hikers retreat back down the mountain, David, feeling better and wanting the badge that he would get after reaching the peak of each of five local mountains, went on to try to reach the top alone and got lost. Once David realized he was lost, he stayed put and survived on water from a nearby stream and berries. When the boy was eventually found after seven or eight days, he told rescuers that he thinks he could have lasted out in the wilderness much longer. Well, that and he wanted a Hamburger and Fries.

I’ll be interested to see the footage we dig up on this spunky kid, and David Crowley… if you’re out there… did you ever earn those other four badges?

References

O'Donnell, Richard. "N.H. search continues for missing Mass. boy." Boston Globe 08/11/1970: 3. Print.
"Hub boy still hunted on peak." Boston Globe 08/12/1970: 3. Print.
"Search goes on for Boston youth." Boston Globe 08/13/1970: 3. Print.
Stack, James. "Boston Boy,12, Survives 7 Days on N.H. Mountain." Boston Globe 08/14/1970: 1. Print.
Stack, James. "Climb every mountain? Yes, he'll try." Boston Globe 08/15/1970: 3. Print.