The evening times., 1899-11-11
A TR1UMPH IHgsuRaERY.
Recovery of the MAN who Had 9
Chise1 In HIS Head.

HecOyery OF the MAN Who Had q
Chise1 In His Head.
BALTIMORE, Nd, Nov. 11-f all goe,
WE'LL Charles C. Baker will leave St. Jo-
seph's Hospital some time today and return
/ to his home in waynesboro. Pa. after hav-
ing a chisel driven like an arrow into his
lead by an accident and then having it re-
moved after nearly three months by skill
| fuI surgical operation.
Mr. Baker was employed in the shops OF
! the Geiser Manufacturing Company, at
Waynssboro. Pa. He was operating a ma
| chine in which there were two steel chisels.
each 1-2 inches long, l inch wide, and Ia
inch thick. which were rapidly reyolyed BY
steam power. Ore day about four months
, ago the workman was found unconscious
near the machine, from which both chissls
had been thrown with terrific force while
the machine was in operation. One chlsei
was found on the focr OF the shop; the 9TH
er one was missing. Mr.. Baker had two
WOUNDS in his face, one over the bridge OF
his nose and the other under his chin. Each
had severed blood vessel and the man
was rearly exhausted from loss of blood
For threo days he was unconscious and
thcn he came to his senses.
Mr. Baker said TO a reporter today:
AT first / did not feel any unusual SEN
saticn, except that l was ye-y 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 l could scarcely nod my head for
ward and backward or turn it from side to
side. Then l had difficulty in swallowing.
II seemed as il my throat was closing up.
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. I had
heard of the reputation of Baltimore hos
pitals and made up my mind to give one
of them a trial, as was losing fiesh from
inability to take sufficient food. l noticed
at this time that my head felt heavy, which
/ know now to have been caused by the
weight of the steel chisel which was car
rying around without knowing it.
"one day after l arrived at the hospital
one OF the doctors. with his finger in my
throat. found hard substance. 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"
"
Normal School. took the x-ray picture,
which showed plainly the chisel imbedded
in the bones OF Mr.. Bakers head. One end
OF 1t was near the base of the nose and
the sharp end was nearly touching the
backbone. Immediately an operation was
decided upon, and was successfully per-
formed at the hospital on October % by
Drs. L. MeLane Tiffany and Cary B. Gam
BILE. jr., assisted by the hospital staff.
Mr.. Baker was first put under the in
fiuence OF an anaesthetic. and then cut
was made in his face from the right eye
brow to the corner CT his mouth. rum ng
down where his nose joins his cheek. Tha
flesh was laid back. the bones exposed. and
there was the chisel 1t did not require as
much force SIS had been anticipated to pu
out the chisel with pair of fo-ceps. after
some of the bones had been removed. II
was found that the chisel had narrowly
missed cutting blood vessels in Mr.. Bakers
throat which would have quickly caused
his death.
MIR Baker shows few efe.ts Of his
unique experience. aside from loss of flesh
which has deepened the hollows in his
cheeks. Down the right side of his face-I
is faint scar showing the Ike OF the cut
made by the surgeons. His right cheek,
al the side of his nose is slightly swollen,
and the bridge of his nose locks as II it
was not as high as formerly. Another
scar under his chin shows one OF the origi-
nal wounds. and third scar is that caIsed
by the putting in OF silver tube into his
through which he could breathe
before and during the operation 10 remove
the chisel.
Besides the defect in his voice. viii, h
sounds like that OF person with a very
bad cold in the head Mr.. Baker has lost
almost entirely the sight In his rignt eye. I
Sometimes he is able to count fingers vixen I
they are held between his eye and the /
light. He wears pair of blue goggles. I
and as yet is very sensitive to drafts OF I
cool air which may strike his face.
Since his remarkable accident and no ]
less remarkable operation TO enable him TO 4
recover from it, Mr.. Baker has been the |
object OF much curiosity at the hospital. !
Besides the professional men who were |
interested in the case from a surgical |
standpoint. almost every visitor to the hos !
ptal wants TO see and talk with him. Car |
iinal Gibbons and Archbishop Keane re- |
centeiy visited him and expressed their |
The chisel which for 50 many we ks was |
ncased in Mr.. Bakers skull is in the pos |
session of DIR. Tiffany. Mr.. Baker says |
he doctor told him that he would not take |
500 for it. The case is a unique one in |
surgery and will probably be the subject |
II much surgical literature.