The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1899-07-29


ing pair of steam shears that cut with
each stroke through an inch thickness of
copper plates like SO much cheese. The
first known of the accident was when the su-
perintendent came along, and saw the floor
about the machine and the machine itself
spotted with pools of blood. The operator
who was running the shears was hard at
work, though blood was fast dripping from
a soiled rag with which he had covered
his hand.
. What's wrong, Nike? asked the
superintendent
. Cut off some of my fingers, sir, an
swered the other, pointing to four fingers
on the floor
- Then, what are you doing here?
| Get out and see doctor, and be quick
about it.
- Then, sir, how am | to fill this hurry
order by noon !?
- Out with you, anyway
THE man came to me, and, Of course,
! had to amputate the fingers a second
time before | could bandage them proper
| ". He refused ether or chloroform, and
refused even chair as unnecessary. Dur
ing the operation he watched each stage
of the proceedings and ali he said was to
speak about the time he might have to
stay off from work Finally, he helped
me adjust the bandages, and when he left
asked me to wrap his soiled rag over the
new bandages, because he was going back
to work, and thought he would like to
| keep the new rag nice and clean for
! Sunday learned that he actually did
return to work on the steam shears, and,
in the end, was happy because his com
pany did not dock him for the two hours he
spent in my Office.
Another case remarkable for the ex
cruciating agony suffered by the victim
was a little old wheezy Irishman who was
laboring in the Delamater Iron Works
He had stumbled, in half-sitting posi-
ton. into pot of melted iron. Some one,
of course, must have jerked him out al
most instantly, else he would have simply
disappeared in the molten mass as if he
had been a wax candle As it was, near
" all the flesh on one hip and part of the
thigh was burned off | was the surgeon
of the ambulance that took him to the
hospital The poor fellow was hurt 50
trightfully that his arrival caused no little
excitement in the ward to which he was
sent As result Of this wrong oint-
meut was applied to the wounds, and the
mistake was not discovered until the end.
Then it was necessary to remove the ap-
plication before applying the proper rene
| dy Up to this time the old man had
been living on one side, almost in faint,
but a. the cooling ointment came to his
relief he opened his eyes.
Bize. he said, I've caught me sec
ond time, | m Irish, | am, and | eats sand
for me breakfast, and then, at intervals,
he joked, not lightly, but with the ashy
face and set teeth of a gritty man on the
verge of collapse oh, bize an ter
think I'm er orphan say, doctor, me
son. how long before | can sit in my ba
rouche fur a trip up Fifth avenny?' The
poor Old fellow had a ride shortly after,
but it WASH in barouche up Fifth ave
nue..
My most interesting experiences, as
YOU may imagine, were in Il hospital in
Cuba. Iarriyed there little too late to
see much of the real work. Down there
they treat all kinds of cases in hospitals,
from leprosy to transient callers who wish
a tooth pulled In our own part Of the
world we imagine that no negro ever has
bad teeth, but down there you would be
surprised at the number Of black patients
who present themselves to have their
teeth yanked Every morning, between
nine and ten, is tooth pulling seance, and
between twenty and thirty negroes, Of all
shades and ages, and men and women, sit
on a long bench waiting for the official
tooth puller to appear. have counted as
many as forty patients on the bench on
the yeranda, and the way the head nurse
in that hospital pulled teeth was amusing
and instructive Promptly at nine o clock
the nurse appears. He Is armed with only
two pair of forcepS, one rusty pair for those
who do not. and bright, shiny pair for
those who come up to his expectations
He begins at one end afrer having collected
his money. Into mouth go the forceps
and out again, and tooth drops to the
veranda One step to the next patient,
and iuto another mouth go the forceps,
etc. The forceps wiped only after the
last tooth has been drawn Water is in a
pump in the back yard The most nota
BILE part Of the whole proceeding is that not
a sound of pain has escaped patient, and
you can safely say that the pain Of having
tooth drawn is no less intense than that
Of most surgical operations
"A cooHe was brought to hospital from
an outlying plantation The coolie, who
was dressed in white muslin and the in
variable turbau. had fallen out of an
orange tree, hurting his left arm. He
had spent two days coming down river
in canoe through the broiling sun, and
his arm was swollen badly He was feeble
with pain and sleeplessness, and, as he
tottered into the office and salaamed, agony
was written in every line Of his brown
face One Of the assistant surgeons,
native Doctor and supposedly white
man, took charge of the case on the spot,
and, after talking in dialect to the cooie,
barred the swollen arm. and began to feel
the bones and joints. The cooGe WINGED
at every touch, and figured there would
be a scene The assistant was one of the
few big, powerful chaps that | met in
Cuba, and after satisfying himself, he
stemmed one hand against the patients
shoulder, and grasping the poor fellows
wrist with the other, pulled with all his
prodigious strength The coolie writhed
and his face distorted, and the mouth
opened rs if he must cry out with pain,
but not word escaped him. Itwas none
of my business, as | was not connected
with that particular hospital, but when,
after three efforts, the supposed dislocated
joint did not snap into place, and when
saw the appealing look, and the large,
clear tears coursing down the silent suffer
er's cheeks, | suspected something. |
know it was not professional ethics, but |
was touched by that coolies fortitude, and
intertered | grasped the mans wrist.
One twist told the trouble.
. Doctor, don you know that mans
radius is broken? | asked.