The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1885-01-30
LEGS TO oaDER:
Interesting xtsms About the Army Of Grip.
pled Soldiers.

pAieo Aor REPAIRS, SAID MIR. Ramsey,
who hos charge Of the artificial limb de-
partment Of the surgeon.general's of.
flee, t9 Washington Star reporter:
"foa know we tit them out with new
sets of legs, arms or other apparatus
every five years. It is now getting
toward the close of one of those periods,
and VIC have repaired $4,000 veterans" {"
AREN'T the one-legged men dying
off2a ksked the reporter:
"Now that's an interesting question.
1 guess they are. I presume many Of
those whose names we have have since
died, but I can't tell certainly. Now,
as I've said, every five years We re.
construct the mained veterans of the
army. but they have their choice to
take The repairs or the money. The
allowance for q leg Is s75, for anything
Less than a leg is $50: From One period
to another many old veterans drop out.
Some of them make one or two ap.
plications, and then we never hear from
them again. Naturally, we conclude
when they don't send for their money
or legs, they must he dead and have no
more use for them. But we don't limit
ourselves to men who have actually lost
their limbs. A man who has simply
lost the use Of his limbs is entitled to a
wooden leg or arm, as the case may he.
though he can't wear them. So YOU
zee we can't keep q record of all the
one.legged men, but I guess there aren't
as many as there used to be. Yet there
are lots Of them, and many who haven't
Eny legs 1t all, and some with neither
legs nor arms. Then there are many man who
have not lost their limbs, but who have
no power to move. There Is QUO s.-nan
who gets two arms and two legs allow.
ance, who cannot move any part of his
body except the little finger on the left
hand, which he can bend the least lit.
tie bit. There is another, q New Eng.
land soldier, whose aims and legs are
dead, and who ID blind in both eyes:
Not long agd hian Gahle in hefe Will
no arms and sat down at one of the
desks and wrote with his teeth. 1t was
not particularly fine writing, but you
could read it. know of another man
he was in the sharpshooter's service :
who can't he stood on his feet because
he 10 bent In che back SD that his head
would strike the floor first. Thihk hdw
taahy years these men have suffered,
and many of them are still living! Why
there's hardly enough left of some OF
them to hold together"
But you asked if they were dying off.
Now, here's roll we are Just complet.
ing" and he laid several immense tally
sheets out on his desk: "Ybu can see
lioW they run. This is the fourth period,
and here's man who has gotten four
legs-quite q number for one man, il
he used them all at once. And here's
another who has gotten four legs and
four arms. No, we don't furnish heads,
but We supply parts Of heads. jaws. and
sections Of skulls and eyes. Nov, here's
man who got one leg In the first period
and has never gotten any sincet he il
probably dead. But here IL another,
who came IN for repairs Just after the
close of the war and was never heard
from again until now, when lie coities
mp again. H. didn't wear out very fast.
SOME men wear well and don't bother
about getting repaired so often.. Here's
another man, he added. pointing to an
other name on the list, "here's man
WHO comes up now for tlle first time;
having done without his limb all these
years. It runs this way, you see, all
the way through. Those men who
have not applied for their fourth leg,
or whatever it is they want, we concludl
must be dead. Some, I presume, will
live 70 get five or six legs, or as many
arms."