Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1894-07-19
DAMAGES FOR STOLEN SKIN.

Irishman Objects to His Hide Being
Used by Frenchlnan.
Michael MCGOWAN values seven strips
of his epidermis width ~ inches, length
s inches), at $50 900, andi in day or two
he will ask the superior court OF San
Francisco to see that ne is reimbursed IN
that sum for his loss OF it, says the San
Francisco Examiner. Michael lost ms
skin while patient at the city and coun-
ty hospital He did not know he was go
ing to lose it until he @awoke from an
anesthetic sleep and found 1t gone. Phys-
ically Michaels pain was not great When
he awoke from the influence Of the ether
and found seven patches OF raw Hesh
where there had been a whole hide, but
when Dr. Barrett informed him that
those strips of skin had been used to I'LL
hideless gap on the face Of E'renchman,
MichaeFs wrath was great.
Jean Forrest was the beneficiary OF the
opera ton, and all might have gone well
in this international grating operation
had not the ludicrous side OF the affair
presented itself so strongly to Jean that
one day, as the two men lay near each
other in the hospital ward, the French
man turned his patched face toward the
Irishman's couch, and, with as much OF
an ronical smile as the healing patchwork
would permit, tauntingly remarked:
I've never been so close to an Irish
man before
'"rhe Swede in the next bed is nearer
to you than | am returned Michael. ;,
But I've got your skin on my face;
said Jean. That makes me part Irish,
don't it?'
You'll be Dutchman when get out
of this bed. I'll tear that. skin Of mine
off your face as soon as / get well, L
will,' said Michael. And when the other
patients in the conValescing ward began
to laugh at the man who had been robbed
,f h c,1-1 <al, ctf,s 70 40
Michaers wrath increased.
This occurred last March, shortly after
the grating operation was performed,
and Michaels anger against the French
man has had time to cool.
Fresh skin has grown over these seven
his anger has not faded. He valued his
skin, and though he no longer bears i'll
will toward the man whose face is
patched with it, he means to do all he
can to discourage the infant industry of
skin stealing, and to gain some redress
for the great mental and physical pain,
he says he suffered in consequence of
DIR. Barrett's experiment in international
grating.
And SO Michael MCGOWAN has en-
ployed Attorney III. X. Mitchell to pros
ecute his claim against the city and
en- strips of stolen hide, size 115xS inches
each. In the novel complaint nat will
be filed in a day or two Michael Mellow
an recites that San Francisco is mu-
nicipal corporations; that as such it is
owner and proprietor OF the hospital
where seven pieces of his skin were stol-
en-: that the hospital was and is main
tanned for the relief of the INDECENT, in
firm and diseased, and that on the 24th
day of last October he, was admitted
for treatment for an ulcer, on his right
ankle Then he alleges that in March
last, while under the influence of an
anesthetic, administered ,ostensibly for
and without the knowledge or consent
of the patient, the physicians ''then
and there did cut and mutilate his body
by cutting from the right thigh large
quantities of his skin, which were used in
grating fresh skin on other persons"
chael's thigh was grated on a female pa
tent, who has since Joined the great
majority. Michael CALAMITY makes no
mention of this patient in his complaint,
and says now that if his mutilation had
ended there his whole life would not
have been embittered to the extent of
$50, 900. But when it came to stealing
the skin of the Celt to patch the wound
of Latin, and never so much as ''by
your leave this was more than Michael
could stand. SIT
The eleventh count in Mr. McGowan's
complaint reads: mat plaintiff, by
reason of the wrongful acts aforesaid,
has been mutilated and disfgured for
life: that since said operation he has
been depressed in mind and weak phys
ically, and ever since has suffered and
still does suffer great mental and bodily
pain"
Of course it is possible that a jury
may not value Michaeps skin as highly
as he does. According to his own figures
Michael values each of the seven lost
strips at S3571.43. True, he has new
skin in it's place, but the old skin was
brought with him from Ireland.