Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-07-19

for hours. was told that after the
army had got by some of the ambu-
lance men saw NE lying there, near the
| road, and Went over to look at me. The
front of my blouse and shirt was soaked
with blood, and upon tearing them
away they discovered an ugly round
no hole in my breast, made by the ball.
They saw also that it had passed
through one of the half-inch boards of
the fence before striking me.
:, The poor chap is goner," one of
them said.
II don't know about that; wait
minute" said the other.
He put his ear down to my mouth
and nose, and detected faint breath
ing; They put me in the ambulance,
and L was taken along in the rear of
the army.
A surgeon examined me that night.
probed the wound, but could not find
the ball; saw that I was very weak
and still unconscious, and said that
would die before morning.
When morning came 1 was still
alive. A train was to be sent back for
supplies, and was put into one Of the
wagons. All the long journey to Win
chester | was not conscious enough to
know what had happened to me; but
there is recollection lingering in my
mind OF hard bumps and thumps as the
sprlngless wagon rolled over the stone
road
At Winchester I was put into the
general hospital. There, as I was told,
was carefully examined, the wound
probed again without any discovery of
the ball, and the surgeon said to the
attendants:
There is no hope for him, as some of
the vital organs must have been
pierced. Make him as comfortable as
possible; he won't trouble you long.
It is one of those cases where very strong
vitality resists and struggles against
mortal wound; but the struggle won't
be long in this case"
That the good doctor was wrong is
proved by my attendance tonight at
this campfire, A week after passing
his opinion on me, he was visiting the
ward where I lay, and stopped at my
cot. was conscious, but so weak that
I could hardly keep my eyes open.
well, I declared" he exclaimed.
you alive yet? You are most aston
ishing man. Do you feel pain ?"
I was unable to speak, but the nurse
told him that I had made her under
stand that there was no pain; only
great exhaustion and heayiness.
Il should think there would be-" I
heard him mutter, with an ounce ball
in his chest"
He found that was kept alive by
some simple nourishment and directed
it to be continued
1T is all anybody cap do for him, he
said.
Well, not to make my story too long,
remained at the Winchester hospital
till spring. I ought to have died, as
they expected and predicted that ]
would, but I did not. 1t would be
hardly true to say that I got much bet.
ter. By slow degrees was able to sit
up, stand, and then hobble with
crutches. But my strength was all
dead as alive.
Along in May I was discharged, and
went home. Everybody was glad t.
! see me, but all regarded me as dying
man, just on my looks. The local doc
tors heard my story of the case, looked
, at the wound, which was now pretty
we'll healed, and said that, while it was
a most extraordinary case, they thought
that, because I had lived SO long will
that bullet in my body, there was hope
that I might live longer. I thanked
them kindly, and told them that I had
come to that conclusion myself before
talking with them.
Time went on; years passed. was
) still weak, but seemed to be i'm
proving. I could walk around and dc
some light work. But was marvel
to every doctor who heard Of or saw
me.
One day in the spring of 1878 I dis
J covered hard lump over my left hip,
accompanied with pain and tenderness
) to the touch. I went straight to the
village doctor and showed it to him.
"What do you think of it 2" I asked
, He put on his glasses, felt Of the
lump, and said that it was "a simple
tumefaction, caused by some external
violence"
"No," said, cts that bullet"
He laughed at me. insisted. AT
first he positively declined to use q
knife on it; but when I told him that
if he did not some other doctor would,
he went at it, and out came the bullet
just as you see it now.
Well, the doctor couldn't tell-no
doctor could tell-anything about the
wanderings Of that ragged chunk OF
lead around in my body. Here it is,
and I would not exchange it for its
weight in gold. Why it did not kill
me, how it could gravitate from my
chest down to my hip, are things that
"no fellow can find OUT" not even the
doctors.
OF course, such wound as that
will shorten my life. No man ever
completely RECEIVERS from the effects
of bullet through his body. But
have been wonderfully spared, and
hope to last some years yet.-Ch icag0
Ledger.
The Fate Of Gunboat.
ian III Read, tn c