Daily globe., 1883-10-30
ceipt in full for the two hundred-seein' I'm
deacon and Christian"
Signaling the Ambuiances in Rev
York City.
TNpTU VOrIy yVo,.I1


New York World.1
! While he was plastering the scratches Of
the woman boy WIS brought in who, when
swinging from butchers rack had been
| caught by the arm ON one of the sharp hooks
| A glance at the ar1a, that was swathed in
! blood-Soaked rags, moved the sergeant to
ring out on his dial the signal 24-24, which
translated into ordinary Language reads:
| ''Send an ambulance here forthwith The
answering signal from headquarters was fol-
! lowed in ten minutes by the rattle OF its
wheels at the door and the gathering of
another crowd, this time silent one.
| To some of the down town precincts the
ambulances are called often half a dozen
/ times in a single night It is tilen the great
crop of drunks is reaped and that nearly all
! the fighting and numbering is done By day
| accidents to workmen and people in the
! streets engage the attention of the hospital
surgeons. The ambulance horsr- stand all
day and night in a Dutch collar ready to
/ turn out at moments notice. Under the
drivers seat is little drug store containing
the essentials in emergency treatment Ere
| quently the call comes over the Eire-wires-
| twenty strokes Of the bell and the number of
the box that shows where the ambulance is
hospital Rarely the ominos twenty-five
, strokes spell out the message: Sand all the
| ambulances in the city, es the other day
when 'the Riverdale blew up Then a race
for life and death takes place from I'D town
and from down town, for which ell other
! traffic must make way. The ambulance,
Ike the mail wagon, has the right of way
everywhere.
In fba
Eighth, Tenth and Fourteenth, all below
| Houston street, the hours from II at night
tiIl2 O'Clock in the morning are usually tho
busiest, particularly on Saturday nights On
Sunday mornings the term is stretcbal in
, honor OF the excise law q couple of hours till
/ daylight. Sunday has always its array OF
bloody stabbing afraJ-S and scarcely misses
q murder. In New York Satan works hard
est when the churches are open, and idlenes
and rum are his tools A police sergeants
lie IS not sinecure in these precincts. His
responsibility is great and usually he is not
willing to take chances. Themany fatal mis-
takes of judgment are on record. ANY wound
on the head Or bad looking cut is cause
enough to discard the doorman's surgery for
the doctors. Il the Subject" is q prisoner
or refuses to go to the hospital, the poiios
most invariably bring out the ambulance.
The single word ''poison" added to the mes
sage from headquarters spells at the hospital
the sentence, Bring the stomach pump and
hurry up" And they hurry. Not long since
an ambulance on the way to the scene of a
reported accident ran over a man on Third
avenue, stopped to pick him up and went
along, returning with two patients instead of
one.
The sick wagon, by contrast, comes at lei
sure. All urgent cases are for the am6u-
lance, and it cannot refuse them. Transfers
from one hospital to another can be made af-
terwards. With sick patients it is different.
Usually they can wait. They belong, as the
case happens to be contagious or not, under
the board of health or the department of
charities and correction if they have not the
means to employ doctor Of their own, as
they seldom have. The "sick cases. come
from the tenelnents, the lodging-houses and
the streets. If the patient has been less than
five years in the county he is refused by the
ambulance and the sick wagon, and the emf
grafton departments wagon comes after Off
cial delay of someti1nss many hours. to take
the cease" to Wards island.
The recently established night medical
service has provided % most useful and vel
come exPedient in such cases, by putting
into the hands Of the Police the means of
bringing immediate relief, while insuring to
the doctor his pay. OF the twenty odd PER
sons who were benefited by the service in
August, not one was able or willing to nav
Tor the help rendered, but left that to the
city at the rate OF So a call.