The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1882-08-24
From Death TO Life.

HOiiy y lCW NdNS dSo1 Ill INC company
of one of the officers attached to the life.
saving service. There was rush OF
people to the Fulton Market slip, and
the officer and the reporter joined the
crowd to see the excitement. ''It was
nothing" one of the spectators said,
tnln'nS TO go away; "only . boy
dr"wncd!' The life saving officer, how
ever, seemed to take different view of
the drowning of boy, and he hurriedly
e!bowcd his way through tho crowd till
he was at tho waters edge, with the re-
porter at his elbow. Three of the fish
ing schoorcrs were tied up at this part
OF the pier side by side, and On the deck
OF the third lay naked boy apparently
dead. Half q dozen market men and
fishermen stood by, saying that the boy
was dead and that that was all there was
OF 1t. The life-saving officer sprnng
aboard the nearest schooner, and was
Immediately stopped by policeman
who was on guard--for the boy had
been out of the water for some time.
"Stard back" said the life-saver, 81
am q physician" and, followed by the
reporter, he was soon on the deck on
which the drowned boy lay.
The otlicer-physician felt the boy s
skin, felt for his pulse, drew up one of
his eyelids and looked at the pupil, and
asked the bystanders how long the boy
had been out of the water.
You can't get no job here unless you
arc all undertaken" said one of the
mon. Gle was stuck in the mud most
ten minutes, and he's been layin' here
ten minutes more; SO, if you fetches
him to life, it'll be a little resurrection,
and don't you forget it."
The officer paid no attention to the
mans opinions, but devoted his whole
time to The boy in q way that seemed TO
indicate some hope of saving the life
That was apparently gone. The boy
could not have been colder or more an
parently lifeless if he had been dead for
q week.
The officer opened the bows mouth.
an operation that required some force.
and found it full of mud. Pulling the
lower jaw down as far as possible, he in
tr0duced one OF his fingers and care
fully but quickly cleaned it out. There
was enough mud in the mouth to choke
the boy if he had not been in the water
at all. Tho officer whisked off his
coat, rolled it up into pillow, and laid
1t on the deck. With the assistance of
two or three bystandcrs, he turned the
BOY over on his face and laid him so
that the coat-pillow was directly under
his stomach. Taking the boys two
ankles in cne of his hands and giving
them to one OF the men to hold up SO
that the patients feet were several feet
higher than his head, the officer pressed
carefully but firmly in the region of the
small OF his back, and Immediately a
stream Of water gushed out of the bows
mouth. 1t had been all this time in the
lungs, waiting only for proper treat
ment to help it out. The boy was then,
after minute or two of this exercise.
turned over on his back again, and the
officer knelt over him. Putting one
hand on the boys right side anu the
other on his left, just over what are
known as "the short ribs" the officer
gave them q powerful compression, and
then suddenly let 60. The instant he
took off his hands the ribs srrang back
10 their natural position, and draught
of air rushed into the lungs. This was
repeated dozen times or more, but
Still the boy was, to all appearance, a
corpse.
"Oh, give us a rest on that" said
another of the men. "The bows dead.
and that settles it. Can't you let a
drowned boy alone!"
The assertion that the boy was dead
seemed to be only too true. He looked
like piece of marble; and the reporter
suggested that it was not worth while to
make any further efforts.
"Why," said the officer, 81 haven't
begun yet. The boy NAV live and he
may not. But he's going to have a fair
chance for his life, anyhow. Stand back
a little, all of you, and give him little
more air."
Disseminating for a moment the arti-
hcial breathing process, the officer took
one or the boys hands between his own
ana began to slap it vigorously, at the
same time setting three of the bvstand-
erS at work on the other hand and two
feet. The reporter relieved the officer
at the slapping business, and the latter
resumed the b-squee2ing process, COM
pressing the Boys frame till he must
have cried for mercy if he had been
With four men slapping his
hands and feet, and an expert trying to
start his breathing, the boy must have
been unreasonable, indeed, had he been
dissatisfied. But he still lay as dead az
o stick, and, happily unconscious.
After about five minutes of this trcaL-
ment, very much to the surprise of the
market men and the reporter, and
greatly to the delight Of the life saving
officer, the boy gave slight gasp for
breath.
Just at this moment of triumph the
policeman on guard called across tho
decks: essay, you'd better let that boy
alone. He's dead enough" "
" Never mind what they have to say,
hey don't know what they're talking
about" said the officer. acct me a
glass of brandy"
He rcdoublcd his artificial breathing
treatment, and one Of the fishing sailors
vent down into the cabin and soon re-
urned with a tumbler nearly full of not
yery inViting-looking brandy. The boy
meanwhile gasped again; had twitched
little in the legs; had rolled his head
o one side, and at length had drawn q
good sized breath. The minute he
'reathed the officer picked up the glass
.f brandy and poured the liquid down
he boys throat.
CHOW. Oot mo two Or throo l1onIroI