The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1901-12-13
( OLD KENESAW'S:
5 LAST BATTLE :
5 The Story
z of a Dying Veteran.
> BY CHARLES e. YOUNGER.
BY CHARLES 3. YOUNGER.

!
ing and allowed the bitterly cold wind
to sweep through the corridors and
wards of the great hospital, there
would have been no more shuddering
among the hundreds of patients than
was caused by this whisper, passed
rapidly from cot to cot, from nurse to
nurse, speeding across to be dissent
mated among the hundreds Of students
in the adjoining buildings.
"Old Kenesaw is dyingw
The attending physician, summoned
hastily by the alarming symptoms, had
stopped but moment to hand his
snow covered cap and ulster to the re-
ceiving nurse. A glance into the con-
| torted, agonized face Of the venerable
| patient, a touch Of the pulse, the brief
est study Of the paroXysms that were
but the surface indications Of the ter
rible torture within, and the doctor
turned away with a look OF utter de-
spair and helplessness.
mo hope, doctorY' The head nurse
had witnessed other death struggles,
! and it is said that nurses become inur-
ed to such scenes But the girls inter
her presenting a picture of abject mis-
cry. ooh, dear, dear, to think that
kind Old KenesaW must suffer sou
! Through her wet eyes she looked at
the poor, wasted old body writing and
| twisting upon the cot. ooh, doctor, if
! you are quite sure he cannot recover.
is there no Way-can't you make the
end less painful?"
DR.. Blank had turned away from the
scene and was looking vacantly out Of
the window. If he made no Immediate
| response to the nurses appeal, it was
| because he was revolving the same per-
! picking problem in his own mind AL
| though he had grown gray in the hos
| pital service, Dr.. Blank was for the
| first time face to face with a most vio-
lent case of angina pectOris, but he
recognized it as hopeless beyond all
! human means.
| What could be done to ease Old
| Kenesaw in a losing struggle with
death? The battle could end but one
/ way, and it was tearing the very
heart from the victim and subjecting
/ him to the worst torture man can ex-
perience.
! Aside from the means of the dying
man the little room was quiet. The few
! seconds that the doctor stood there
! bordering seemed an age to the nurses
and the internes, who first glanced in
sadness and terror at the patient, then
J in appeal to the silent man at the win
dow. Presently the doctors dark.
F.. hopeless countenance changed, and
/ hope was discerned in his quick COM
mand:
"Send for Ainsley. Take my horse
and buggy and get him here quickly
as possible"
! Then, as an inferno fastened through
the hall to carry out these instructions,
the sad news spread over the great
! buildings, whispered by nurse to nurse,
by patient to his neighbor in the next
cot:
''Old Kenesaw is dyingv'
Never was man more truly loved.
! Many years before he had come to the
hospital suffering from old age and the
ailments contracted in the southern
! swamps during four years service in
| the civil war. Broken in health, with
+! out home or relative, depending upon
! his scanty pension to hold strong soul
and shattered body together. he drift
j ed into the free clinic and asked for
treatment. AS "NO. 74'' he had first be-
come known to the nurses and in
ternes, but after he had related his
| war experiences to them and had told
and retold with glistening eyes of his
! greatest battle his title was changed
! to Old Kenesaw Mountain and in time
to Old Kenesaw.
When Old Kenesaw enlisted with
the army of patients. it was thought
he would eventually be relieved and
discharged. After two months of good
care the old warrior was again fairly
comfortable, but he evinced no desire
j to depart from the hospital and, in
! fact, no one wanted him to 60 He
! had become a sort Of general factotum,
/ and his services were regarded as
we'll worth his bed and board.
Old patients and new internes.
nurses, medical students, the entire
hospital staff and even the visitors at
/ the institution came to know him IA
miliarly. His slow, shutting step and
the CHEEKY click Of his cane on the
| hardwood floors were as familiar as
! the scheduled visits of the nurses and
always as welcome, if not more so.
Old Kenesaw had access to every
nook and corner of the hospital. The
patients drew inspiration from his
kindly old face, and his stories of
camp and battle served as a tonic.
To the children in the hospital Ken
esaw was the incarnation Of all that
was good, kind and helpful He was
| their chum, their never failing friend.
He would creep to the cots of the lit
tie sufferers, chase away thoughts of
! pain and bring smiles to their wan
faces with his inexhaustible fund of
stories.
Ii,,or fl,o