The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-05-13
SAW HIS OWN HEART.
UNPRECEDENTED EXPERIENCE OF A
CHICAGO POLICEMAN.


market Bomb Saw In a Mirror the Beat
ing Of His Own Heart-Saved by a Deli
cate Surgical Operation.
1t must be an uncanny sensation to
look within your breast and actually
see the pulsation Of your own heart
Yet this has been the experience Of
Charles W. Whitney, one Of the men III
blue who was injured i'll the Chicago
Haymarket riot His chest was torn
away by the explosion of bomb, and
as he lay in the hospital bed he saw,
with the aid of hand mirror his own
throbbing heart. What is still more
marvellous, he recovered and is today
doing a mans work and commands 500
a year more than an ablebodied police
man travelling beat
May 4, 1886, was q bloody night in
Chicago history. One hundred and sew
enty stalwart men marched from the
Desplaines Street station. They had been
corralled there for several days antici-
pating a crisis, and at 1890 o'clock the
order to fall in line" was given. The
country thrilled with the horror that
followed. The efforts to disperse the
mob and the throwing of bomb that
burst between Lieutenants Stanton and
Bowler's companies left oyer 60 officers
lying i'll heap ON Haymarket square
One man died within an hour, and two
Others were hopelessly crippled by hav-
ing their legs blown off. Other men
were cruelty MANNED, ii of whom are
now dead.
But of all the men Whitney stood the
smallest possible chance of life. His
breast was horribly mutilated, and bits
of exploded bomb We're imbeClded peril
ously near the vital organs He was
taken to the hospital, and after the neces-
sary probing the wound was scwcd up.
Just before taking the stitches DIR. ].
B. Murphy inquired:
My brave boy, do yop want to see
what no man ever saw before?''
Eyes. What is it?' asked the officer
feebly.
Your own heart
He handed his patient mirror, and
Whitney saw the greatest miracle ever
given to human eyes. He now affirms
that the heart is not u movable organ,
for it neither leaps up into the throat
nor descends into the boots. In fact, it
does not indulge in any of the acrobatic
feats generally ascribed to it by imagi-
native writers. But he frankly ncknowl-
edges that he is incapable Of expressing
his sensation as ne watched the oecilla-
ton of his heart.
Within month he was able to return
home and was supposed to be on the
road to recovery. Later he suffered re-
lapse, and, after weeks of unparalleled
suffering, DR.. Murphy decided to resort
to the most extreme operation known
to scientific surgery. In the history Of
surgical procedure in this country it was
the third time it has ever been under
taken, the former cases having proved
fatal. A careful examination indicated
that piece of the bomb casing pene-
trated the breastbone, passing about
midway between the second and third
ribs, and was located about one.eighth
of an inch from the pericardium. Like
magnet coquetting with piece of
metal, every throb of the heart brought
the piece of shell nearer until the pierc-
ing of the organ was inevitable.
The operation was set for Friday,
Nov. 6, 1886. Relatives and friends of
the injured man protested, and, this
coming to his ears, he said:
Il am going to make a test case Of
this and see if there is anything wrong
with Friday
The eventful morning came. The old
wound was completely healed, but the
flesh was laid open and DR.. Murphy pro-
ceeded to bore hole through the Off
GERS breastbone very much as q skill
full carpenter uses an auger on a hard
wood stick. The instrument used was
trephine suitable for making a hole
fve-eighths Of an inch in diameter.
The delicate operation was marvel
Ona sIlccees for af tho foot of tl,in linn