Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1896-10-03
WAR "REMINISCENCES.
WHERE HAD JOHN BeENq
Strange Eject of wartime Wound or
n Neuro.


Strange Eject of n wartime Wound on
Negro.
After the battle of Bu! Run, when
the whole country was holding up its
hands in dismay and breathing hard in
the first realization that the war was
not, after all, to be picnic for the north
ern troops. L, together with many other
doctors and surgeons, rushed into Wash
ington from distant cities. was taken,
one rafuy night, by n kind old negro wom-
an to her cabin on the edge of the city.
She came to me in tears. ~Doctah, des
wisht yoh come an see my John. He
pears mon's'ods curious, an he act des
like he 'stracted."
At her cabin found her son, tire.
mend Gus fellow, as black as coal and evil
IDENTIFY an athlete, with no evidence of a
wound upon him, but with tendency to
bear off to one side as he walked, an APP
parent inability to talk, and possessed
/ of persistent effort to march and keep
time to martial music, which he could
not do.
Aunt Martha, as she called herself,
and asked me to call her, told me that
! her son had always been strong and
/ healthy, and that when he left Wash
/ ington with the army be was perfectly
| sound and "des like de res of de folks;
but dey fetch him back to his po' ole
nanny des like yoh see him, doctah,
an des skeered plumb outen my wits,
dat 1 is" l examined John carefully
and could find not the least thing the
matter with him, and hall believed he
was shamming.
The room was whitewashed, and ] no.
ticed streak entirely lyaround it that was
so evenly drawn that it attracted my at
tention; but in the stirring events of
those days l really paid scant heed to so
trifing case as Johns, and so appar-
emily trivial an indication as was that
level streak on the wall. His mosher
was still talking. "De reason dat all de
table an cheers is in de floor, doctah, is
dat John he des runs inter all of 'em il
dey close + de wall Pears like he des
'bleeged t. skim along close up a. eber
he kin. Dat dar streak is whar his
elbow scrapes along all day an all night,
'cep' when somebody's sittin' holdin'
his han er feelin' his pulst, like yoh is
now" Young and inexperienced as
was. even this did not give me clew
and 1 left Aunt Martha and John after
giving some trifling advice and remedy
both of which knew to be wholly in
nocuous.
/ spent several years in Paris and ir
. Germany after the war, and it was not
until 1ss- that l was back in Washing
ton. We had an internationl conven
tion there at the time, and were taker
to various public institutions, among
which was little asylum for poor ant
insane negroes.
In one loom, as we were passing the
door, 1 happened to observe on tn.
whitewashed wall well-worn streal
drawn so level and circling the room 81
perfectly that it called to my mind
vision which 1 had wholly forgotten.
,, Memory was coming back to me ant
slowly taking up the threads of the wa
days, when one of the resident physi
clans, who had missed me and returned
said, as he joined me at the grated door
Strange case. He has been like tina
for years. No one knows why. He i
perfectly harmless, perfectly helpless
to taking care of himself, and he walk
and walks, day and night, and alway
bears to the left. If we let him out he'
bear off to the left and go in-the rive