Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1900-06-14
HIS WEIRD ILLUSION.
TORMENTS OF A MAN WHO LOST AN
ARM IN BATTLE.
Haunted by the feelings. Aches and
Pains Tint Hacked the Missing
Member, which SIN seemed to He
Attached to His Body.

Attached to His Body.
My old friend Simon. who fastens his
left sleeve to his shoulder with what he
calls his "chainless safety" a nursery pin !
we'll worn down TO the brass, sat down
the other day and discourscd concerning
the grim side of the war question, or
perhaps | should say the grimmcr side,
for there is little that is cheerful in the
topic.
~ wound is a curious thing" said he.
"lt's still more singular when it takes
of your arm or your leg. And that Il man
can lie pcstercd by the ha'nt of part of
hs body buried away in the ground |
know Tor fact. When David Barker
SAID. What II queer. weird thing is an
empty slccven I'll bet he didn't half re-
allt what he wrote.
Il wouldn't know where to 70 to look
f., uiy arm at AppomattoX. | was hus-
tlod up to the hospital into the operating
room and away TO n cot. and my arm
that had lived and slept with me for -
years went out on the heap and then
away into a trench somewhere. But |
wish | could have had the burying Of it,
Now, YOU want to know why, don't youI
and when | tell you you will think | am
notiuna old duffer. But let me tell
you this there amt no way of going be-
hind what a Teller knows for himself, no
matter what other people may think they
know. say that Notwithstanding all the
poppycock talk about the influence of the
dead fcsn on the living and ycarning
blood and all tina. there are the truly
strang" things that old soldiers know for
themselves.
when | woke up on the cot after the
operation the nurse was keeping off the
flies and wetting my head. First | got
my bearing ! went right back IN my
mind to that pasture where 1t all nap
pCn-0
"IEerc was the start from where we
had been lying since early morning, won
dcring whst was going 10 be our part in
the picnic that was on all around us. We
were hugging the ground down in hol-
low, and all that we were getting of the
fight was sound. There was lots of that.
There were banginCs and belowings and
shudderings and beltings from all about.
"Thcn came our turn when we went on
the Jog trot up the incline toward-we
didn't know what. All that we had seen
of the outside world on ahead was the
grid of o five barred fence at the top of
the hill We had counted all the knot
holes in that fence as we had set there
and waited.
When we goi to the fence. grabbed
the top rail and started to vault over.
The next moment something snapped,
and when | got my eyes open | was on
my bach down the hill under the feet Of
mel vLo were hopping over me.
lock out l yelled as | scrambled
vi the hill again. i just took hold of
the top rail there, and it's SO rotten it
broke
Then | reached out to grab the fence
agSin. Bless me, something was the
matter! | could get hold with only one
hand l locked down. There was my
left arih swinging and dangling around
as though it belonged 10 straw scare
crow. | had to feel of it, lift it, jerk at
1t, before ] could fairly realize that | had
been wounded.
And that was all l knew about get
ting hit.
But when came around to my senses
on that cot in the hospital l had a more
realizing seGse of things now | can tell
you. But still j wondered. For down in
the tips and along all the fngerj of that
left hand | could feel all sorts of aches
pains, yanks and thrills.
Il never had any idea they would try
to save that arm sale to the nurse.
Poor man said She, you are like all
the rest. That arm was off two hours
ago. and you've been growing and grit
ting your teeth and coming out from I'M
der the influence ever since. Your arm
is off, aud the stump is nicely bandaged.
Now take this and be quiet as you can
And SO | lay there and cooked my
eve down and looked at the place where
the arm ought to be and wondered what
in time i all meant; for, just as plain as
ever felt anything, there were twingcs
in the fingers of that left hand and awful
aches in the wrist and pains in the mus
Giles thai made me scream.
And yet where all that terrible aching
was | could see nothing but empty air.
And with my other hand l would grope
around in that space trying TO find and
rub-weil WHAT
But worse than the pain even was a
tickling that used to take me right in the
palm Of that missing hand, and | would
have given 500 any day to have been
able to dig down into that itching place
with my thumb nail.
"a ha'nt? Why, there was no ghost
that ever fitted that could be so bad a
epook as the ghost of piece of me.
And then because that dead arm OF
mine wouldn't let me forget it | com
mcnced to get notions into my head.
would lie there and fancy so wildly just
what was happening to that hand and
Hlm that at last, out Of nervousness,
would scream like n woman. Why, you
know, ! could see teeth gnawing into il
Rid feel the pangs for all the world just
A. though it was really happening.
rould see a worm writing around the
tngers and would try to clutch and grasE
with the hand that had been laid away
from me for so many days.
"All that sort OF torture wore away il
time, of course, but still I'm never al
lowed to forget that lost arm.
II used to have rheumatic twingcs il
that arm. l have them there to this day
] had felon on my left thumb few
months ago. At least had all the symp
toms and all the pains. ] could onl,
Erunt and bear it. The hand is COLI
sometimes, or rather, perhaps, TO be un
deystood, | should say that it seems n
though l had a hand there that is cold
The hand becomes numb and goes t
Sleep it is warm and throbs. In fact
it $ ha'nt, and that's all there is to it,
lie vision journal.