“A Good Turn”
How a Plucky Scout Stopped a Runnaway

Here is a picture of Scout Frank Mitchell, of Duck-street, Rushden, who stopped a runaway van horse. The lad is quite small, but he had seen a picture of the method of stopping runaways, by catching hold of the horses’ ears, and by carrying out what he had read and remembered was able to bring a big animal to a standstill. He refused any reward, stating that he was a Boy Scout, and that was “a good turn.”

Northampton Independent, March 4^th 1916

Frank Mitchell

No one would think that the diminutive figure shown in the above photo was capable of stopping a runaway with horse, but that is the deed that brought the boy into the public eye at Rushden recently. Seeing a powerful van horse running away the lad, whose name is Frank Mitchell, courageously rushed up to it and by seizing its ears brought the big animal to a standstill.

He explained afterwards that he had seen pictures showing how runaways could be stopped, and by carrying out what he had read and remembered he succeeded in accomplishing the dangerous feat. He refused a reward, saying that he was a Scout, and this was his "good turn."