The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1899-11-23
Baltimore SUM-

Baltimore SUM-
If all goes we'll, Charles c Baker
Will leave st. Joseph's Hospital today
and return to his home in Waynes-
boro, Pa, after having undergone the
experience of having chisel driven
Ike an arrow into his head by an ac
cident and then having it removed
after nearl y three months by skill
full surgical operation.
Mr. Baker, as has been related in
1he Sun, was employed in the shops
| OF the Geiser Manufacturing Com
pany, at Waynes boro, Pa. He was
two steel chisels, each 81 inches long,
l inch wide and inch thick, which
were rapidly rcvolved by steam power.
One day about four months ago the
workman was found unconscious near
the machine, from which both chisels
had been thrown with terrific force
while the machine was in operation.
One chiSel was found in the floor Of
the shop; the other one was missing
MI. Baker had two wounds in his face,
one over the bridge of his nose and
the other under his chin. Each had
severed a blood vessel and the man
was nearly exhausted from loss of
blood. For three days he was uncon-
sclous and then he came to his senses.
Said Mr.. Baker yesterday to a re-
porter of The Sun:
WHAT MIR. BAKER SAYS.
AT first | did not feel any unusual
sensation, except that | was very
weak from the loss Of blood and my
head was very sore. For three weeks
| was attended by physicians. until
the wounds healed, and then | had
peculiar sensation in my head. The
| muscles of my neck became stiff, so
that could scarcely nod my head
| forward and backward or turn it from
side to side. Then had difficulty in
swallowing. 1t seemed as if my throat
was closing up and | could scarcely
swallow any food at all. My voice,
| too, became affected and while | never
entirely lost the power of speech, at
times the members of my family could
not understand what | said to them.
| had heard of the reputation of Balti-
more hospitals and made up my mind
to give one of them trial, as | was
| losing flesh from inability to take suf-
| ticient food. | noticed at this time
that my head felt heavy, which l
know now to have been caused by the
weight of the steel chiscl which | was
carrying around without knowing it.
Zone day after [ arrived at the
hospital one of the doctors, with his
finger in my throat, found hard sub
stance, evidently foreign body. Then
another one passed an instrument up
my nostril and struck something hard
which evidently did not belong there
Then the doctors decided to have an
X-ray picture taken of my head"
| THE SURGICAL OPERATION
| The result of this experiment has
previously been told in The Sun.
| Prof. VIM c. A Hammel, of the State
Normal School, took the X-ray picture
which showed plainly the chisel i'm
bedded in the bones of Mr.. Bakers
| head. One end of it was near the
base of the nose and the sharp end
was nearly touching the backbone.
|
cided upon, and was successfully per-
formed at the hospital on October %
by Drs McLane Tiffany and Cary B..
Gamble, Jr., assisted by the hospital
staff.
Mr. Baker was first put under the
influence of an anaesthetic, and then
a cut was made in his face from the
right eve brow to the corner of his
mouth, running down where his nose
back. the bones exposed, and there
was the chisel. 1t did not require as
much force as had been anticipated
to pull out the chisel with a pair of
forceps, after some Of the bones had
been removed. 1t was found that the
chisel narrowly missed cutting blood
vessels in Mr.. Bakers throat which
would have quickly caused his death.
| TwENTY-SEvEN DOCTORS THERE.
Mr.. Baker said his awakening from
the operation was much like his return
to consciousness ust after the acci'
dent He was aware of only one thing
connected with the operation, and
that was the presence of y doctors
he saws, who had considerable difficult
ty in seeing all that they wanted tc
see At another time, he says. q
doctors were present when an exami
nation was made of the wound.
AT first" said Mr.. Baker, Il fell
very sore and then, as that feeling
wore off, was aware of peculiar
lightness in my head from the relic
of carrying so much iron around
Nerv soon | was able to swallow will
little difficulty, now | have scarce
lv any trouble in that line. l wa
soon able to talk with less difficult,
and every day l felt an improvement
although sometimes my voice seem
. | to give way on the right side. | fee
very thankful that | have been abb
, to pass through such an experienc
without losing my life"
FEW sCAREs LEFT.
. Mr. Baker shows few effects of hi
; unique experience, aside from loss G
: flesh, which has deepened the hollow
= in his cheeks. Down the right sid
of his face is a faint scar showing tn
line of the cut made by the surgeons
His right cheek, at the side of hi
nose. is slightly swollen and tn
bridge of his nose looks as if it wa
less high than formerly. Anothe
scar under his chin shows one of tn
original wounds, and a third scar
that caused by the putting in of
silver tube into his windpipe throug
which he could breathe before an
during the operation to remove tn