Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-12-27
A WOMAN SCALPED
By Her Hair Being Caught in q
Piece of Machinery.
TOO DAzED TO FEEL ANY PAIN.
An Effort to Save the Scalp by Grating 1t
on Again
MAY POSSIBLY PROVE SUCCESSFUL
ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DISPATCH,

SPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DrsPArcHI
NEW YORK, Dec. 26.-Mrs. Minnie
Wick, the wife of Herman Wick, who
owns a steam laundry at Twenty third
street and First avenue, is "a years old and
good looking. At the laundry she superin-
tended nearly 30 women, who are employed
there. The laundry Is in the top loft of a
factory building and the place is filled with
all kinds of machinery. 1t was about 7:15
O'Clock when Mrs. Wick got there to-day
and only three or four of the employees had
arrived. She noticed that one of the
windows was open at the top and that the
snow was drifting in. She got up to close it.
The driving shaft of the laundry runs
across the room near the center, and one of
the wheels that turn with it is close by the
window. A set screw, projecting little,
binds the wheel to the shaft. Mrs. Wick
sprang lightly on the window sill, which
was only two feet from the floor, and closed
the window. She glanced out for a moment
on the snow-covered scene below, and then
stepped down.
Scalped by the Machinery.
In doing so she threw her head back and
her hair touched the projecting head of the
set-screw. One turn and the screw had a
firm hold. and in another moment the
woman was standing on the floor, scalped.
Her soft, thick black hair, which she wore
in great coil. had been torn off entire, with
the skin and the left ear. She did not faint,
and after the first scream she did not utter
a sound. She hardly felt any pain. The
shock was too great. She simply stood
dazed, while little stream Of blood trickled
down her face.
The boundary of the wound was a line
from between the eyebrow, under the left
eyebrow and the left ear, around the back of
the neck, up over the right ear, and then
down to the nose. Mr.. Wick rushed
through the binding snowstorm to Belle
vue Hospital, three blocks away. 1t did
not take long for an ambulance to start. He
told the driver where to go and with clang-
ing gong, the ambulance raced up the street,
Wick following as fast as be could. The
driver passed First avenue and continued
up the street in the wrong direction.
The Husband Imploring Aid.
Wick ran after the ambulance aud
shouted himself hoarse, but the wind was
blowing so 6ercely in his face the driver
did not hear. just then an ambulance on
its way to the hospital turned into Twenty
fifth street. Wick ran out into the street
and implored the driver to turn about and
drive TO the laundry before it was too late.
This ambulance had hardly reached the
place when the first one came rushing back
and the driver explained that he had mis-
understood the directions.
They carried Mrs. Wick down stairs.
One of the women had stopped the machin-
cry Immediately after Wick ran out and
had taken down the scalp. This was
wrapped in piece of paper and was taken
to the hospital. The woman was put in DR..
Walter Woods ward. There was Just
chance, the Doctor thought, of saving the
hair by grating the scalp on again. So
after washing it in a warm solution, he
sewed it In place.
just Bare Chance for 1t.
Dr. Wood said to a DISPATCH reporter:
''The woman will in all probability recover
but am afraid the scalp will not grow on.
1t was half an hour old when I got il, and
there was Just enough chance to make it
worth the trying. The chances are that it
will grow around the line OF suture and
make the wound smaller, but fear that the
greater part will die. In that case it will
form line ana drop of, and we shall have
to take piece of skin from another part of
the body and graft it there. That can easily
be done. II the scalp should grow oD the
hair will continue to grow, but if we have
to graft skin there the woman will lose her
hair. At any rate, the scalp makes good
dressing for the wound"
Mrs. Wick has no children. Her hus-
band is well-to-Go and she has great many
friends. Her niece sat at her bedside the
greater part OF the day. When Wick told
the story to the reporter he showed him the
wheel in which the hair had been caught.
Spinning around with the set screw was
still little coil of black hair.