, 1885-01-14
In THE HOSPITAL.
A PATIENT TELLS WHAT He SAW OF
A BAD CASE
Fint the Surgeon and Then tho Priest
Coaxed by the Nunse-A
Hearted wife Returning
vitalify-The End.


A" 49,
New York SUM-
@There's the ambulance bell" said a pa
tent Nov. II, as the ominous "lding, king"
was heard. The cot nearest the door WINS all
ready, as usual The sheets were turned
down. The swing-doors were hooked back
A young man, apparently towering between
life and death. pale and insensible, was
brought In on the strpscher and deposited on
the cot. The surgeons came In with tho
stIetcher. As George the male assistant
of the ward, passed dow the aisle he whis-
pcred: akun over. Bad casa. Hurt inside"
/ have forgotten 10 mention one OF the most
Indispensable ndjuncts Of the ward It was
a large screen. Il was covered with brown
cambria, and looked not unlike a large
clothos-horso. When extended and e~ncirling
tho foot Of a cot with its wings along the
sides Of the bod, IL afforded privacy for three
or four persons George set this screen
around the newcomers bed. For some min
uteI nothing could be heard beyond a few
whispered remarks OF the surgeons
At last a very faint moan was heard The
man WINS not dead, but the voice was 50
weak and thin that what be said was not in
telligible. A little later the voice seemed 10
regain strength. The means would increase
in volume, and articulate words were heard
lutn inc fOlCb Wuulu ult away lllubttutE.
After nix or eight minutes one OF the sur
eeons thought he heard the sufferer whisper
the word priest" A priest was sent for.
Tho head surgeon OF the hospital could not
be fdnnd- Tho wnrd surgeon tried in vain TO
learn from the patient his name and address
Not long afterward a priest entered. He had
n whispered conversation with the am
bulnnco and ward surgeons in tho
aisle, and then went behind the screen.
George and Dolly the nurse came out,
leaving the sufferer alone with the priest
The priest quickly learned tho mans MANS
and address. When the priest came out a
me ssenger was sent for the mans wife. A
little later a messenger returned with a cru
cinx on n pedestal and two candlesticks with
wax condlea. George and Dolly assisted the
priest TO improvise an altar out OF the locker
near the sufferer's cot. The lighted candles
were set upon it. and the priest began to adj
minister the last rites Of the Catholic church
/ caught a pax vobiscum once, and heard
him pronounce the last syllable "coom," as
though he had imbibed his Latin nt-Douai or
some other French institute. l caught the
shadow on the wall thrown there by the can
dies on the altar-of
"The waving Of the hands that blessed
At last the chief surgeon came in. He
won't at once to the bedside OF the sufferer.
There were groans from behind the screen.
After apparently satisfying himself as to
the extent Of the injuries the surgeon put
questions to the injured man, and little by
little learned tho particulars Of the accident.
The mnn was q hack-driver. He had had a
row in the street with the driver OF a cart,
and had been knocked from his box and run
over.
@wcre you tightT'
A low "Yes."
IL .y.a tho orIv rotf,nt xvho had nwor ID
mitted it
The chief surgeon then left the ward. The
doctors, as they went out, looked very
serious. Ono of them shrugged HIS shoulders
n answer to an observation by the ambu-
lance surgeon. IL bodcd badly for the pa
lieut. Dolly was told to keep hot water In
| nannel-covered tin cans 10 his feet. back,
heart and stomach-he was getting cold
and 10 give him some stimulant every ten or
fifteen minutes in small doseA The hot water
applications were easy enough-the man
couldn't help himself-but getting the stimu-
liant into him was evidently no easy matter.
We could hear at times what was going on
behind the screen. Dolly was evidently on
her knees at the bedside. Come now,
Johnny; that's right There, lay your head
on my arm. That's better. Now, Johnny,
just open your mouth ever so little. Only
one little teaspoon. Itn do you good. 1t
will, really. Come, Johnny, there's a good
boy, just for your wife's sake She'll b
hero right away. Come, just for my sake.
Johnny. Come, open your mouth ever so
little"
The words or the endearing tones pre-
vailed. In half an hour a young man and
two women, one about 80 and one quite
young, both with heads bowed and muiied
in shawls, came in. They wore the mother
wife and brother Of the man on the cot All
went behind the screen. The brother staid
thero only a few seconds, leaving tho two
women inside. The patient had evidently
returned to insensibflity. In all my life l
never hoard such terribly heart-broken APP
penls: 20, Johnny, Johnny, speak to mel
One word, darling. Don't you know mel
o, Johnny, my own Johnuyi"
The voice, broken as IT was, was evil
IDENTIFY the wife's. The appeals met with no
response. The whole scene was as distinct
as though no screen existed. The mother
came out weeping, leaving the wife alone
with her husband. The poor creature broke
down in a despairing appeal: 20, my God,
help mel" 1t was about IL P. m. The in
mates Of the ward had been sitting up ir
their cots in their anxiety to learn what wns
going on. When they heard the bereaved
wife's means they buried their faces In their
pillows
The mother went behind the screen and
brought the wife out As they passed. out Of
the ward / caught a glimpse OF the wifes
face. / shall not soon forget it. She WINS a
young woman. Her face was tho picture Of
hopeless misery and resignation. had seun
that face before, where or when / could not
at that moment recall. 1t came back to me
that night in my dreams. It was the face OF
a 4Dolorosan Of Murillo's which had kept mt
spellbound in Madrid many years ago.
A half an hour or so after his WHO'S de.
parturo Johnny began to show signs of 10
turning vitality, due probably to Dolly's ap-
plicntions Of the hot water tins and to the
stimulnnts which she administe red. His
voice increased in strength. He yelled loud
enough to be heard in the next block. Water
cistern.n water cisternln He had mistaken
Dolly for n Sister OF Mercy. He meant "a
use the words. water, sister"
/ went to sleep after this. When | woke,
an hour and a half e~fterward, / turned u
the end cot. The gas was turned low. The
screen had been removed. The cot was
ready for the next occupant While l was
meditating on death, life, rum, grief, folly,
episode had awakened In my mind, an attend
ant came through the ward / asked, pointing
TO the empty cot at the end OF the ward: al
that poor follow deadF
aDeadF' he answered. aIf you heard him
down stairs in the ambulance ward howlino
for brandy and water, and saw him doing
his p~rettiest TO wrlggle himself out OF biz
straitjacket, you'd think he was about tho
l~veliost corpse you ever saw. Between him
and another jim-jam fellow that they
brought in late we have got e picnic dowr
there. We had 10 cart him down Stair. Of
not one Of you could have slept a wink. o
he's all hunkyr