Morning journal and courier., 1882-03-24
One Chance in a Thousand.
\ San Franeisco Teamster's Recovery
 From a Broken Neck.

From A BToken NeSks
 From the San Francisco Chron1els-l
 About five months ago the daily press pub lished a short item regarding a teamster named John Collery, who attempted to drive his team through barn door, and in so do- ing had his head forced down on his breast until his neck was broken Police Surgeon Stambaugh made an examination of the in- iured man and found that the seventh ceryi- cal vsrtebra was fractured, and that the spinal cord had been stretched nearly two inches So serious was the injury that the reporters, after chronicling the accident un- der the head of fatal accidents, paid no fur ther attention to the matter and failed to in- duire after Collery's condition, considering him dead and buried. 4 Chronicle reporter was therefore exceedingly surprised yester- day afternoon to meet the supposed corpse near the city prison looking remarkably well for man with a broken neck In a conver- sation which ensued Mir Collery stated that he was almost well as before the accident, a slight stiffness in his right sids constituted his entire ''unhealthiness. " After hiSrenoFAl to his home Collery states that he was laid flat on his back with a sort of fence about his neck and head, which kept him ;mmovable for over two months. Both the vertebrss and the arching laminse were discovered to be broken and the operation of joining them together without pinohing the spinal cord where it had sagged between the ragged edges aS Ge5SIlDSu dS OLS tA AL-I A-GSN 1-h ever performed. For a month the patient lay on his back completely paralyzed in one half of his body, and with but little feeling in the other. If he moved in the slightest degree during the first fortnight he could plainly feel the jagged edges of the bone grate together and for hours after such an attempt he was content to lie on his hard bed with out attempting to move muscle for fear that the spinal cord should be crushed and his existence ended in a twinkling. The straightest position attainabie was required, and to this end Dr. Stambaugh was compel led to refuse him s mattress, forcing him to lie on a wide plank Collery says that be- fore his eight weeks of enforced quietness were ended he thought that board was made of adamant. The most dangerous time be experienced be says, was one day when an | attendant told him that man whose neck | could stand breaking as his had was not born | to be hanged. His desire to laugh was lrresis- | tible, and the shaking mp his merrinent 1 gave him caused his fastenings to burst and | the fracture came near being ruptured afresh 1 During the first five weeks he did not move l over a foot from his first posture. The pa- ralysis has now almost entirely disappeared, l and Dr Stambaugh yesterday promised him 1 that he would be able to go to work within six months. The average fatality in cases of | clearly defined fracture of the spine is esti- mated at 999 in l, ,OOO.
 Two inches of snow fell in Hartford and vicinity during the early hours Wednesday, and the scenery, especially the trees, was l beautiful in the pure white covering. 1 The black sand from the beach at Block Island is being extensively shipped to Pitts burg and the great iron eenters Of Pennsyi- 1 yania, where it is used in the manufacture of fine steel
 There are about eight sailing vessels of lobstermea from Noank and Mystic on the fishing grounds The catches have beeu poor
 SO far and the recen. gales have damaged
 their gear considerably.
 Charles Wormsly, restaurant keeper, oi
 wfIlimantic, was stabbed Tuesday in the back
 of the head by William Rice, who had refused
 to pay for cigar The wound is serious and
 Rice has been arrested.