Evening star., 1900-08-17
SOLDIERS WATCH CHARM,
Bullet Carried in His Ankle Since
Battle of

Nearly forty years have gone by since
the first gun was fired at Fort Sumter and
II WOULD seem that all the Incidents relat-
ing to the war which followed have been
since told and reto!d several times, but a
fresh one came to light last week through
an accident.
Captain Crowley. who is stopping at the
Takoma Hotel. slipped while coming down
stairs recently and the jar loosened from its
place a bullet that had been located he
meath his ankle bone since the battIe of
Antietam. The leadcn missile had troubled
the captain at different periods since but
the accident precpitated climax The foot
Immediately began to swell and the next
day he decided to go to a hospital On his
way to one of the local institutions Cantatn
Crowley happened to glance over a paper
and noticed that his old division surgeon,
DR.. Woodall, had but recently returned
from the Philippines and was stopping in
Baltimore. Without further discussion the
captain was taken to Baltimore Surgeon
WOodall was located and by short opera-
ton the ball was removed
In conversation with Captain Crowley a
reporter of The Evening Star was told
the story of the bullet which had been
carried about by him for more than a
third of a century. The captain said.
Il was a lieutenant In the regulars of
the time the battle of Antietam was fought,
and the first day of the struggle I was
leading my company up a short hill, on
lht tleSt VI WHICH WAS located q large body
of 'confeds. AS We charged, with every
man yelling at the top of his voice 7 went
down on my face like a flash Thinking 7
had stumbled over something l Immediate
ly arose as one OF the boys called back to
me:
Hello lieutenant, are you hit?'
Not scratch l replied, and at once
started after my company.
Il had hardly taken a dozen stems before
| felt something wet around my shoe. and,
STOPPING down to turn up my trousers 1--WE
didn't wear leggins them, / found blood
oozing over my shoetops.' AS soon as I
pulled off my shoe my foot became swollen
to twice its natural size, and l started for
the rear
You may have heard what field hospi-
tai was like, but as the thermometer regis
tered fully 10 in the sun that poured down
on us further description is unnecassarv
Surgeon Woodall. God bless him. was in
comma nd and after 4 hurried examine tion
toid me the 1oot would have to come off
But l protested and the surgeon said all
right; he would examine it later AS there
were hundreds of brave BOYS living aronnd
waiting to be attended to, the surgeon
passed on
the spot where l was lying on the ground
and he once more probed for the bal II
was no use, however, it could not be found
The surgeon then said:
Crowley, that ball has gone I'm undar
your ankle bone. and If you want il out
now the foot will have to come off The
wound may hea! up and enable YOU tn walk
upon the injured foot. Some day Won will
jar the ball from its place, and then it can
be taken out easily.
quite n prediction wasn't it?
"a few minutes after the surgeon left ma
back came our men the run and con-
fusion was everywhere. The army was re-
treating and the wounded men were To he
left behind Try as l could no one cared
to help regular, and l thought my chances
pretty good OF railing into the hands of
the Johnnies- Just then a mule team with
supplies halted near me- and in the twinkle
of an eye l was on the back of one of the
animals. The zdarky driver made no oh
jectfons. and we went off of that battle
field with a skip and a jump
Il remained inAthe hospital for two
months and was then discharged beinp
able to walk with crutch Since those
days l have had numerous oreratfons ner
formed the foot but tie bullet refused
to come from its hiding place The lar
given me last week. however did the trick
When 1 appeared before Surgeon WoodaII
in Baltimore he at once recognized me and
remembered my case.
1.-The strange part of the wound was that
the bullet when taken out was incased in q
sort of amber-liEe covering, and this Ind
prevented blood poisoning. l have had the
bullet made into Il watch charm and money
couldn't buy it,
Captain Crowley fought through the on
tire civil war, being with the ID Division
of the 5th Army Corps, and TODAY is hale
and hearty, a slight. limp and stoop beine
the only reminder that many years have
elapsed since he fought for Uncle Sam.