The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1897-06-18
Cut the Ostrich" Open.


1o0 nails, knives, screws and tacks,
among them being the marshaPs big
Barlow knife.
This is an actual and complete in.
ventory of the hardware, glassware
and cutlery taken from Whallen s
stomach:
WHAT HE HAD IN HIM.
1 4-bladed knife, 80 inches long.
2-bladed Barlow knife, 4 inches
long.
knife blade, 4 inches long.
knife blade, 3 inches long
2 knife blades, 2 inches long.
knife blade, inch long.
81 large eight and ten-pennv fence
nails and spikes.
"a siX-penny wire nails, sharp
pointed.
26 shingle nails, inch long.
l6 carpet tacks and small wire nails.
/ horseshoe nail.
large screws.
] barbed wire staple.
3 ounces fine glass.
The astonishing fact is that Whallen
carried this remarka BILE collection OF
junk in his stomach u week and is
still alive. The case is the most re-
markable of its kind that has ever
surgeons in Kansas City. and it has
few parallels in the history of surgery
Whallen is a professional Snowman.
He began swallowing nails and glass
when he was a lad 10 years old. He
soon found his way into dime mu-
scum and later into a side show He
travelled all over the United States
with Barnum's and other big >circuses
as a human ostrich and contor-
zionist. He can twist himself into
almost any shape, SO supple are his
joints, and until week ago he could
swallow with safety any object that
would pass down his throat.
CAUSE OF HIS TROUBLE
Not long ago Whallen was stranded
in st. Louis. He began to work his
way to Kansas City by giving street
performances in small towns Upon
these occasions he would swallow
mails, knives and tacks and any in
credulous individual in the audience
who cared to risk his pocket knife for
the sake of further testing Whallen's
swallowing ability was generally ac-
commodated.
The pocket knife feat caused Whal-
lens trouble He swallowed two
bladed Barlow knife belonging to the
city marshal of Pilot Grove and it
lodged in his stomach. Thursday he
went to the city dispensary and told
DIR. Van Quasi and DR.. Smythe that he
had 100 nails, knives, tacks and other
hardware and cutlery in his stomach.
They refused to believe his story, but
upon examining him found that some
hard substance had lodged there.
Whallen insisted that he was telling
the truth and it was determined to ap-
ply the X rays.
This was done by DR.. j. N. Scott in
the presence of several doctors and
newspaper reporters. X ray proto-
graphs of Whallen's stomach were
taken with the powerful Crooke's
tube machine.
WHAT X RAYS SHOWED.
These photographs showed the bone
frame work of the mans body and a
dark spot almost as large as a mans
hand showed the exact location of the
mass of knives, nails and glass. An
effort was made to look through Whal
lens body with the Y rays and the
Horoscope. His ribs and vertebra
could be easily discerned, his heart
pulsations seen and the metal mass
outlined, but the rays were not pow
erful enough to define what the object
really was It was found that the
metal was lodged in the large sack
which is technically called the stom.
ach. Whallen's sufferlngs became in
tense as the incongruous substances
remained in his stomach. and he de-
termined to have an operation per-
formed.
AS his calling would indicate, the
''human ostrich" is man of nerve.
lie said he did not fear the operation.
At the conclusion of the operation
Whallen was weak and of course un-
conscious, but the surgeons said his
condition was good and that his chance
of recovery was excellent.
turkeys war Perpetrators Contiruc.
CoNsTANTINoPLE, June 14.--The
Turkish government is draining the
Asiatic provinces of the empire for
troops to be sent to the Balkans, au!
has ordered an additional l5D, ,OcO Max.
ser rifles.
Loomis Expected to Explain.