Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-06-13
THE INJURIES.


Bauer, who reports the following as the re-
suit of his Investigations:
THE INJURIES.
The injuries in both legs bear great SINH
larity. There are large rents In the skin of
both through which the lower ends of the leg
bone protuded four or FIVE inches inwardly.
The capsule of each of the ankle joints were
torn, and with it the adjoining nerves and
blood-vessels Only in one of the legs had
the large tendon been torn. The tissue in
the immediate neighborhood were filled and
piscoored with clotted blood. 1t will thus
be seen that the injury consisted In what the
surgeons call a complicated GIslocatlon OF
ankle-joint in both forelegs. From these
facts the doctor infers that the right leg In
which the tendon was torn, and upon which
both the velocity and weight were principal
ly spent, was the first I'M ured. Evidently
false step taken outside the axis of the limb
by which the heel was unduly depressed
caused first the rupture of the tendon, while
the weight alone subsequently gave rise to
the rent of both the skin and capsule, where
upon the dislocation of the joint was the in
evitable consequence. As soon as the first
leg was injured, the horse was forced to
throw his whole weight on the other limb,
which, under the exertlon, produced the
same displacement without additional injury
to the tendons. A minute examination did
not disclose any pre-existlng disease of weak
of the bones. The bones protruding through
the skin after the dislocation had of course
pierced the soil of the track at each leap of
the horse, and the soil still adhering to them
showed the depth to which they had entered
the ground.
AN OLD ACCIDENT.
The accident to M'Whirter, resulting in a
necessity for shooting him on the track, has
recalled to mind no instances of the kind I'M
der precisely similar circumstances, though
broken bones in hurdle-race and steeple-
chase have been not unfrequent casualties.
A lady of this city, who came here from Bal
tlmore IN 1886, recalls to mind an accident to
a racer which occurred in Maryland about
the year 1924 or 1925, of which she was cog
INFANT, and the account OF which was related
to Republican reporter. A Mr.. Bell, of
Bel Air, Hartford county, owned a splendid
racer, of a maroon color, and, being young
man of high tone and wealthy connections,
he set high store on his favorite horse. One
day he was returning from Havre de Grace
with the racers, which he had been practic-
ing on the race-course with a view to
an approaching contest which excited the
interest of the whole country in those days.
The roads were wet from a shower, and in
ascending a declivity the horse slipped and
falling over on its side, broke the bones of
the right hind leg. The horse w,ithed and
kicked, and its owner was inconsolable at the
loss, as he believed he would have to shoot
the animal to put him out Of misery. The
people in the vicinity gathered about, among
them Nathan Touchton, cousin of the re-
lator of this incident, who advised against
killing the animal. Mr.. Bell disregarded
the opinion of Touchtop with an expression
of some contempt, supposiug him to be a
poor fishermen, not well up In horse lore.
by offering five dollars down for the horse,
taking as he lay moaning on the side of the
road. Bell gladly accepted the proposal.
Touchton paid over the FIVE dollars, and
clinched the bargain by requiring a receipt
for the money paid for the horse. Bell hav-
ing rid himself of further trouble went home
with sorrowful heart Touchton, who had
fifty men In his employ catching shad in the
Susquehanna, Immediately called to his as
sistance all the help he needed, and without
moving the crippled horse erected stout
wooden frame, similar to that used by black
smiths In shoelng oxen. The horse was
slung up IN this frame so that the legs could
not touch the ground, and the fractured bone
was set and kept in place with splinters, and
by proper care the animal recovered, so that
it was able to walk in six or seven weeks.
The horse was placed In a stall with several
other horses In the same stable, and during
the next winter when turned out in the yard
for water he stamped and hirted about as
coltish as the rest, and though not directly
toned that during the same winter, in the
same yard little pony, in prancing about
with the other horses, one day slipped down
on the sleet and ice and tumbled into well
The fishermen at Boothly's hill were sent for,
and the pony, whose head had kept above
the water, was lifted out with ropes. after
being in the we'll three or four hours. Though
badly chilled through the pony recovered and
became a respectable horse. The second
season after the racers recovery, Mr.. Touch
ton entered him for the races at Havre de
Grace, and his fame began to spread far and
wide. 1t got to the ears of Bell, the former
owner, and he set up a claim for the recovery
of the horse. He made a tender of the five
dollars received from Touchton. which the
latter indignantly refused, and Touchton was
dragged before justice of the peace at Bel
Air, but on showing the receipt for five dol
lars paid for the horse the case was nonsuited.
A few days after the suit Touchton's colored
man rushed IN one morning and said the
horse was dead. He was found bloated, and
there was no question but that 1t was the re-
suit of poison. Suspicion was rife as to the
parties who administered the poison, but at
this day, ffty-four years after the event, it is
unnecessary to refer to those now all dead or
further disturb the names of the dead horse
and hIa POnf1IctInI