Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1891-08-14
WITH AN AMBULANCE.
BUSY ROUND OF THE DAILY LIFE
OF A CITY SURGEON.

| Inere Is something that makes the blood
| leap and the heart beat quicker about that
somber, black wagon with the gilt letters
| Ambulance" and the name of its hospital
on the side. As we hear the quick cIanr of
lis bell and see it swing round the corner and
dash down the street, with wheels rafting
over the stones and galloping horse straiuing
\ in the harness, while trucks and wagons
/ turn hurriediy out of its path there are few
who do not feel something of thrill and
/ turn to look after it. 1t calls up so vividlv
! Ideas of accident or disaster, of desperate
! emergency, one would like to know what has
! happened, and wonders whether it is n Sc
! riouS occurrence.
! The surgeon knows, but the pasSerby is left
to speculate whether that rushing horse is
carrying his freight to give speedy succor to
/ the victims Of some frightful calamity. and
will go back to the hospital with a mass of
mangled humanity moaning behind him, or
whether there will be found merely some
wretched topper, inert and senseless from
| drink. There are medies 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 in great city to keep
the ambulance only too busy and make the
service responsible and serious one. Per-
haps, therefore, readers will be interested TO
see little Of the inside of the ambulance
! service, what work it has to do and how it
does it.
1t is nearly 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 medical journal Appa-
ratus for communication telephone box. a
I mas ,.,1l II.
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 r,Inn
outupon the electric bell This is in connec-
! ton with the same wires that constitute the
police teegraphic 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 twce-that means ''ambulaucc
wanted Then follow the taps that tell
where each crossing of two prominent streets
has its distinctive number, which is rmg out
on the bell. In case Of great emergency, fire
or calamity, the hurry call" 1872, 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 down 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 i'll 1883; another was when the Bud
densieB buildings on Sixty-ninth street fell
III 1850, and sixty men were supposed to have
been buried and again in the great Grand
street fire i'll the 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,
Also nave their box, by which a special signal
may be sent out. Often, also, excited citizens
telephone from their offices that a man is
| lying dead at the corner, and on the arrival
Nof 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 tinkles sharply
| one, two; one, two-and then the numbers
| that tell the locality He does not have to
/ look at the list to recognize them snatching
his cap, he says: Come along; corner of
Bowery and Spring street. and starts down
stairs two steps at a time. The driver is
/ there already; he horse buckled in the drop
harness that hung over him in his stall and
harnessed to the ambulance in something
under thirty seconds, plunges through the
/ opened gate as we swing in behind.
| We slide about on the smooth, leather Gov
cred seat and hang on to the straps with
swelling biceps as we rattle around the cor
ner. Clang! sounds the bell, and heavy
truck turns out Of the way, while children
scuttle out of the street and men and women
fly to windows or pause on the pavement.
As We near Spring street we collect CON
stantly growing train of followers, and the
street becomes dense in our trail with boys
of all sizes and ages little girls and big girls,
even men, and women with babies in their
arms. They want to see something interest
ing, to have a sensation; they scent blood.
We pull up before great brick tenement
that is all alive in an instant with heads out
there are 200 people about us. Children in
Vulnerable, the little girls with their bare
heads and short calico dresses, more anxious
to see even than the little boys; big girls in
loose ginghams, holding up babies in their
arms, big boys with bad hats, wives and
grandmothers with anxious faces, men in
shirt sleeves or no sleeves at all, out for the
cool evening air after their days work, and
a torrent of talk What is it? Who's hurtY
1t is drunken man, it is a woman tainted
it is boy killed, it's a sunstroke, it's fight
A policeman comes to the door; behind
him a scared, sobbing girl, who is i'm
mediately hailed with questions by a dozen
voices She cannot answer "a boy fell off
the fire escape, three stories" the officer ex-
plains, as we 60 up stairs into the little room,
where the boy, dark haired lttlr Lad of or
Z, lies on the bed, while the rest of the room
Is filed with women. These, except the
mother the doctor orders out with brief
vigor. Very still the boy lies, as the surgeon
gently lifts and touches his head, his body,
his limbs. No fracture to be found no APP
parent wound or confusion. The ammonia
bottle comes out of the bag, and a little on a
tuft of cotton is held at his nostrils. The
boy stirs, twists little, opens his eyes and
stares. Where are you hurt johnny
''Ain't hurt nowhere says he, succinctly.
And as a matter Of fact his diagnosis
proves to be correct. Further careful ex-
animation reveals no injury, and he does not
complain of any internal damage and it
seems that he has come out Of a thirty foot
fall into paved court with nothing worse
than momentary shock. Young flesh and
flexible bones he has to thank for his luck.
He need not 90 to the hospital this time.
The crowd, grown twice as large, is wait
ing with admirable patience at the door. 1t
oh dica MT O11
down without a victim, but disperses slowly
under exhortation from the officer to Move
along now" and the horse trots oR.-New
York Press.
A Gift for the Emperor.
Amonn tho criftc. r,,.n-nr,4,d ", IL T..