Wichita eagle., 1888-08-21
WITH AN AMBULANCE.
hUSY ROUND OF THE DAILY LIFE
OF A CITY SURGEON.

!
leap and the heart beat quicker about thai
soInber, black wagon with the gilt letters
"Aalbulance'' and the narne of its hospita
On the side. As hear the quick clang o.
its bell and see it swing round the corner ana
dash down the street., with wheels rafting
over the stones and galloping horse straining
in the harness, while trucks and wagons
turn hurriediy out OF its path, there are few
who do not feel something Of a thrill and
turn TO look after it, 1t calls up 50 wildly
ideas of accident or disaster, of desperate
emergency, one would like to know what has
happened and wonders whether it is a Sc
rlouS occurrence.
The surgeon knows, but the passerbv is left
to speculate whether that rushing horse is
carrying his freight 10 give speedy succor to
the victims of some frightful calamity, and
viii so back to the hospital with a mass of
mangled humanity meaning behind him, or
| whether there VIII DE found merely some
wfetched topper, inert and senseless from
drink. There are nodics as well as TRACE
dies in the ambulance service, but the dark
succession OF the latter is only broken by an
occasional lighter incident There is enough
Of accident and crime i'll great city to keep
| the ambulance only too busy aud make the
haps, therefore, readers viii be interested to
! see little Of the inside of tho ambulance
service, what work it has to do and how it
| does it.
1t is nearly S o'clock in the evening when
we ring the bell OF the hospital The ambu-
lance surgeon for the night is sitting at his
window reading 4 medical journal Appa-
ratus for conlrnunication-a telephone box, a
J
spicuous on the clean white wall By them
| hang the rules for the ambulance service of
the hospital and the list of stations and sig.
mails, a system OF numbers which are rung
out upon the electric bell This is in connec-
ton with the same wires that constitute the
police Geographic and telephone system and
that communicate with the different pre-
cinct stations and the little red boxes of the
fire alarms
From police headquarters or the precincts
can be sent the four sharp taps ----
two rings twice-that means Ambulance
wanted" Then follow the taps that tell
where each crossing of two prominent streets
has Its distinctive number, which is rung out
Oh the bell. In case Of great emergency, fire
or calamity, the hurry call' l-33-2, is rung
over the police bell, or twenty taps on the
fire bell, followed by the number Of the box.
That is when the horse lies dc WIN to his COL
lar, and corners are swung at top speed; for
sometimes five seconds make the difference
Of life or death.
On an ordinary call only fair speed-a
sharp trot-is made On extraordinary oc-
casiOns every ambulance on service in the
city has been called out Such an occasion
was the frightful crush on the BROOKLYN
bridge in 1888; another was when the Bud
densiek buildings on Sixty-ninth street fell
III 1870, and sixty men were supposed to have
been buried; and again i'll the great Grand
odreet fire in Che seventies. There are TWEEN
ty-one in all that can be called
Each hospital has its own district in the
city, covering from two to four of the police
precincts, an area, on an average, of about
four square miles. At intervals of about two
blocks through the district there are fire
alarm boxes, each of which has its distinctive
number. Prominent buildings, such as school
houses, theatres, Tammany hall and the Like,
Elso have their box, by which special signal
may be sent out. Often, also, excited citizens
telephone from their Offices that man is
lying dead at the corner, and on the arrival
Of the ambulance the supposed corpse has
vanished, and has been often chased for
blocks for the necessary particulars for a re-
port OF its name and address.
While the doctor is telling all this, in mid
explanation the electric bell tinllles sharply
one, two; one, two-and then the numbers
that tell the locality }Ie does not hava to
look at the list TO recog ilize them; snatching
his cap, he says: Come along; corner Of |
Bowery and Spring street," and starts down
stairs two steps at time. The driver is
there already; the horse, buckled in the drop
harness that hung over him III hi, stall and /
Earnessed to the ambulance in something t
under thirty seconds, plunges through the
opened gate as we swing in behind.
We slide about on the smooth, leather COW
cred seat and hang on TO the straps with
swelling biceps as we rattle around the cor
ner. Clang, sounds the bell, and a heavy
track turns out of the way, while children
scuttle out of the street and men and women
1,y To windows or pause on the pavement.
As We near Spring street we collect a con-
St. ATTY growing train Of followers, and the
street becomes dense in our trail with boys
Of al sizes and ages, little girls and big girls,
even men, and women with babies in their
arms. They want to seq something interest
ing. TO have q sensation; they scent blood
We pull up before a great brick tenernend
that is all alive i'll an instant with heads out
Of windows. and before the horse Is turned
there are 900 people about U.s. Children in
the little girls with their bare
heads and short calico dresses, more anxious
to see even than the little boys; big girls in
loose gin,hauIs, holding up babies in their
arms, big boys with bad hats, wives and
with anxious faces, men in
shirt sleeves or no sleeves at all, out for the
cool evening air after their days work, and
; torrent OF talk What is iti Who's hurtl
L Is drunken man, If is a woman tainted,
t is a boy killed, it's slirsSITo!le it's fight
\ policeman comes to tie dcc-; behind
1i,n a scared, sobbing girl, who is i'm
hailed with questions by dozen
voices She cannot answer. "a boy fell OF :
he fire escape, three stories" the officer ex.
claims, as We 20 I'D stairs into the little room,
,t.ere the boy. a dark haired httls lad of oor .
:, LIS Oh the bad, while the rest u tie room :
3 filed with women These, except the
mother, the doctor orders out with brief |
-igor Very Still the boy lies, as the surgeon ,
,ectly lifts and touches bis head, his body,
is LIMBS No fracture 70 Dc found, 10 ap- !
,areat wound or confusion. Tie aIn1uoc.a |
,oIle comes o.. OF tie b2S, and little or q .
UT Of cotton is he'd at his DostiA The
10Y St-S. tw..-s u..4. opens as eyes and
:sres- Where are you hurt, Joh.Eyi"
Amt hurt nowhere" says be, succinctiy.
Ind IS matter Of fact his diagnosis :
roves to be correct Further careful ex-
reveals no injury, and be does noe
o;aplain CT acy laser-al damage, and Is
Gems ina. he Els come out q 8 thirty foos
al into paved court with nothing worss
han a E,ornenLsry shock Young fesh and ;
exile bonss he has 20 thank for nis luck. 4
e Gsei Tot 50 70 tie hospital this tina
Ire crowd, grown twice as large, Is watt