Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-11-13

handkerchief in his right hand and shout
ing. A few rods from the house he
stumbled and almost fell. He had been
shouting at his luudest tue moment be-
lore. AS he lunged forward he threw out
his right hand to save himself At the
same instant the half dollar. which Mrs.
Booth had evidently tied very loosely,
dipped cut OF the handkerchief and nIo
wales mouth. He Iegained his
equilibrium, but came near choking to
death.
'He coughed until he grew dizzy and
staggered like a drunken person, but ne
could not eject the silver piece. Some
now ne made his way back home and tot
tered into the house. Mrs. Booth peered
into his throat but could not see the hajt
dollar. She pounded on the little fellows
back in the way customary with choking
persons. Willie Dreathed more freely,
put the half dollar did not come. Then
Mrs. Booth ran for the village doctor.
When they reached the house few min
utes later Willie felt much better. The
strangling sensation was gone and he
oreathed as usual, with the exception
that there seemed, he said. to he big lump
just above his collar bone. The doctor
made careful examination Of the boys
throat. He failed to find the coin, and
concluded 1t had passed into the stomach.
Willie very stoutly declared that he could
still feel it in his throat. This, however,
the doctor attributed to the little fellows
Imagination. He therefore administered
strong physic and departed He called
every day for a week but nothing was
seen of the coin, which Willie repeatedly
protested was not in mis- stomach, but in
his throat, where he could feelit.
''A few days afterward the doctor
CHANGED to be at Narragansett Pier,
where l was stopping. We met, and,
after describing the case, he asked me to
visit Peacedale and assist in second
examination of the boys throat. | did
so, and together we probed carefully and
thoroughly for the half dollar. We could
not find a trace Of it. At the point Just
above the 9sophagus, where little Willie
continued to insist that he could plainly
feel the coin, there was not the slightest
lump or swelling. agreed with my friend
that the half dollar was in the boys
stomach, After discussing the case,
however, we called in WIdely-known
Providence surgeon, who also infinitely
examined the boys throat. He indorsed
our opinion that Willie had swallowed
the silver piece. Stronger physics were
now administered, and the next day we
tried violent emetic. Both eXpedients
failed. 1t was manifest that the coin
could be removed only by an extremely
difficult and dangerous surgical opera
ton. No argument could induce the
family to consent to this.
''rhat the boy would die of slow cor
rOsive poisoning seemed inevits BILE. In
fact, he began to waste perceptibly with
in fortnight. l remained at the Pier
six weeks. and was so interested in the
case that | drove over to see little Willie
every few days. At the end of month
he was thin, weak, and cOlOrless. When
L started back to New i ork he was
simply a shadow. Ny friend, the
PeacedAle doctor, wrote me several times
about the case. Each letter said little
Willie was thinner and weaker. 1t was
now the middle of November, fully twelve
weeks since the boy swallowed the half
dollar, and | was surprised that ne had
lived so long.
"The following week / was still more
surprised by letter saying the coin had
been recovered. The way it originally
flew into the boys mouth had been re-
markable enough, but the manner of it's
temperance was almost Incredible The
boy had actually coughed up the half
dollar. Owing to his sickly condition
the family had shown him every iudul-
gence. Among other things, as the days
grew colder, he was allowed to wash
every morning I'm a basin placed on a
chair near the kitchen stove. While
washing thus one morning violent fit
of coughing seized him, ard during it the
half dollar fes from his mouth into the
basin. The silver piece was as black as
the stove lid Impossible as itmsy seem,
the large coin had been lodged for three
months In the little fellows throat, and
so peculiarly placed;that the most sklllful
search could not reveal it's presence. 1t
is not strange, therefore,. that young
Dodgers death was at first attributed to
heart disease, and an autopsy was re-
quired TO disclose the fact that he had
been strangled by collar bu ton. Poor
little Willie, however, was more fortu-
nate than the rich brewers son. He fully
recovered in a few months, and when L
last saw him, two years ago, was a strong
and healthy lad,D