Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1899-06-22
A DOCTOR DESCRIBES A NUMBER
OF CASES AT MANILA.
VERY FEW AMPUTATlONS
a Dozen Men Shot Through the Brain
Still Aliye-One of the Most Inter
esting Letters Which Have Been
Sent Home From the Fa.-oif
Philippines.

DR.. w. NJ. Beck writing to the Mime
apolis Tribune from Manila, under date
OF May I, says: Volumes might be
written of the thousand and one Incl
dents and oddities of warfare that new
er fall to the lot of the historian. |
have in mind many Of these little
events that will relate, but it may tax
the incredulous severely to swallow
them. Providence; good luck, or some
other occult power has stood by the
American soldier in this war. At this
writing we have had 300 killed and
! LOO wounded since Feb. 4, the begin
/ ning ol the war with tile FiHpiHOs.
The casualty list Of the enemy must eX-
coed 1900, and | should not hesitate
| much to call it 10000. | wonder if
! Aguinaldo still believes what he once
| publicly announced, that he could XIII
Off American soldiers faster than Nc
Kinley could ship them in here. Ag
| been expensive. His army Of monkeys
in soldier clothes has been so ply
sicked by American lead that he hardly
knows where he is at"
OF the LOO wounded boys in the
hospitals but three of them required
amputation of limb. This is most
remarkable and is a handsome testi-
monial to the skillful and intelligent
surgical consideration Of Maj Fitz-
gerald and his corps of assistants
Eight hundred and twenty soldiers
wounded in the limbs and but three
amputations-two of them the thiga
and one OF them the shoulder. These
amputated cases all died, which is also
remarkable in the light OF modern sur
gerry. In this climate tissue change IS
vital spark has fled from limb the
case is fatal. Even the post norton
changes are so rapid that embalming
is a certain failure unless begun with
in 60 minutes after life has ceased, and
then the body Immediately transferred
to the boats in the harbor.
We have expert American ambalmers
here who tell me that they have tried
every method of embalming and have
failed To the small calibre bullet Of
the insurgents Mauser the wounded
boys owe their lives and a continuance
Of their usual friendly association with
good arms and legs. In the bony struc-
ture of the body the Mauser bores
clean little hole rarely fracturing a
limb; in the skull it takes a center shot
to kill Now this sounds like a whop-
per. | know Of at least a dozen men
shot through the brain with Mausers
who are still alive and in good health
] know OF fully a hundred cases shot
through the chest cavity in every por-
ton except the heart, that have recoy-
ered-in fact, they rarely die l know
of cases where the main artery supply
of a limb was totally destroyed, vet
the integrity of the parts remained
good,
| helped last week to lisaJe the ie-
moral artery in the left thigh OF a Ne
braska boy, and although brass bull
let had gone through the leg sidewlsa,
seyering the artery and terribly LAGER
adng the flesh, the collateral circula-
tion established insures him a good leg
eventually But through the soft alb
dominal tissues the Mauser is always
fatal, excepting wounds of the liver.
Wounds OF the intcstiues, stomach ana
spleen always cause death Every
operation for resection of wounded IN
testines resulted in death. and the OPP
Grafton is now entirely abandoned
Wounds Of the head excite the most
wonder At the battle of MariQuiua,
March 70, Private Avery Grimes of my
company fell close TO my left \
Mauser entered behind the right ear,
passed diagonally forward through the
posJerior wall of the throat, with its
exit near the left corner of the mouth,
taking along three teeth. He is MAX
ing slow but certain recovery. Al
Colorado man on our right that day
had a Mauser bullet traverse the ideu-
IDEAL course except that the points of
entrance and exit we're reversed He
returned TO his company in two weeks
Another soldier was struck behind ihe
ear high up the ball passing downward
and forward and ont the middle por-
ton Of the lower jaw. He lost a cou-
pie Of teeth. but is making a nice re
coyery. A Montana boy was struck
an inch back Of the outer angle Of the
loft eye, the bullet passing through his
skull and making its exit in the same
locality on the other sight He has
los, the sight Of one eye and fear the
other win soon follow, although he viii
recover his usual health A Nebraska
man was shot directly over the left
eve he ball passing down and out ur-
derueath the edge Of the jaw. re-enter-
ing The shoulder and out near the el-
bow again entering the wrist and on.
the back OF his hand. He Is out OF
commission for q couple Of months. bu.
viii have one good eye left 10 turn on
the "sOogooos. These are o few Of
the cases tina. come under nv personal