Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-09-24
A WALKING LEAD MINE.
An Illustration of What a Man Can En-
dure in the Way of Wounds.

An Illustration of What a Man Can En-
dure in the Way of Wounds.
Special to the Gazette.
KANSAS CITY, No. Sept. 19.-An Incl
dent on a car of the Metropolitan street Car
line brought 10 the surface here story
which shows how much man can endure
in the way of wounds and live. The pas
seDgerS were surprised to see man sud
denly rise to his feet, totter forward and
fall full length TO the floor. He wore a
Grand Army uniform and his button showed
that he was member of the order. The
car was stopped and the man taken to a
store where he was revived, and the ambu-
lance took him to the hospital. He gave his
name as Horace Wilcox, and to a reporter
told a most remarkable story. He was
wounded several times during the war but
remained in the service, and after the close
of the rebellion he was one of those sent
after the ConfederateS who fled into Mex
leo. His adventures on the border were
thrilling, and ne was captured and escaped
three times, each time being wounded.
An examination of his body shows a most
wonderful condition. He bears the marks
of twelve bullets and three saber cuts. In
i little bucllskin bag which hangs at his
neck he carries ten bullets, two copper, one
steel and seven lead. These have all been
taken from his body, and there are still two
in him which the doctors cannot find, one
being a copper bullet which is imbedded
somewhere in his breast, and which is the
cause of his present trouble. This ball he
received in Mexico, and its corrosive action
is such that he cannot ride il any sort of Il
vehicle without becoming sick and faint
This is the reason he fell in the street car
He says that all his travels over the coun-
Try must be on foot or he will suffer the
tormeuts of the damned. His breast is u
n
TO cure it as long as the bullet remains in
him. For space of six inches around the
wound the flesh is of Il greeniSh blue hue,
and at times becomes violently infiamed.
He shows his fifteen scars and tells the
history of each. One saber cut extern :
from the center of the head down GO.
the forehead 10 the left eye, shown ...--
his head was laid open with a 81. = cut.
This was the first wound which he received
during the war, and had he been half an
inch nearer to the man who gave it, he
would have remained on the field. The
point of the saber cut through his cap split
ting his scalp down to the bone but doing
no damage to the skull. The next wound
he received was bullet through the neck,
and as he was falling another ripped up his
right shoulder. He was soon out again and
in skirnish he received a ball through his
right arm. This did not lay him up. and
the next day in resisting a cavalry charge
he was cut twice with a saber. One cut
struck his left shoulder and the other nearly
Scalped him.
He lay in the hospital for three months
and then returned to his command. He
had been with it but a day when he was
sent out on Skirpish duty and was again
shot, this time through the tieshy part of
the thigh. This wound was painful, but
did not lay him up over q week, when he
was again marching with his company.
He carries his right hand in very pecu-
liar position. His middle finger is crossed
over his third finger from the effects of a
wound on IL, and when asked why he car
ried il in such peculiar position, ne said
he kept it there to stand guard over the
other. AS he said this he removed the
finger, and the third finger stood straight
up in the air. He had been shot through
the hand in such a manner as to shorten the
leader and break the bone, forming false
joint.
Down in Mexico he received three wounds,
each time with a copper bullet He fol-
lowed too close after some fleeing Confed
crates and was captured. He attempted to
escape and was shot in the left breast, the
ball being cut out at the back. When he
recovered he again attempted to get away,
and was shot through the left leg, breaking
the bone He was closely guarded again,
but when he got well he tried TO get away
and was successful, but was shot III the
breast, causing the wound which now gives
him so much trouble. Since the war ne has
been wandering over the country, and
owing TO his Pc uliar condition he is COM
PEELED to walk everywhere.
He says he is unable to do any work, and
cannot content himself to stay at one place
long, SO he has been walking ali over the
country ever since the war closed. He re-
ceives a good pension from the government
which supplies all his needs, and he spends
his time in looking at the country which he
helped to save. He says he has had much
amusement out Of his travels, and some
times gets heap of fun out of his wounds.
He says he came near losing his life few
weeks ago by being run over by a freight
train, but it ended in 4 little amusement for
him. He walked on a track in Southern
Illinois when he stepped on a siding to get
out of the way of a fast passenger train.
AS he did so he stepped directly in front of
Il freight train coming the other way. 1t
was going very slow and simply picked him
up and threw him over a fence into lot of
bushes, which saved him from hard fall.
He got up, climbed upon the fence and
sat there to see what would happen next.
The conductor and engineer came running
back and began search for the man who
was run over by the train, and were much
surprised to find no trace of him. They
finally asked Wilcox if he had seen any
thing of a man who was killed by the loco
motive. He S owly and in apparent pain
climbed down of the fence and showed his
bleeding breast and crippled hand and said
that he guessed he was the man, as some
thing struck him but he did not know what
it was The trainmen offered to do all in
their power to aid him, and told him that if
he would sign a receipt eXonorating the
road from blame they would give Kim S25
He signed the receipt and took the money,
and they went away happy in the belief
that they had saved the company from
big damage suit.
Wilcox is now on his way to California
where he will spend the winter.
MIJRDFR MOST EoIu