The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-03-10
Has Silver Skull, Few Ribs, No Ell
bows, Bullet in a Bone and
a Misplaced Heart.
YET HE IS A HALE OLD SOUL.
Went Through the Civil War, and
There Got the Injuries Which
Started the Process of His
Virtual Reconstruction.


REPUBLIC SPECIAL
New York. March a.-George Burns. n 20
ycar-old Civil War veteran. who wears a
silver skull and is known as a marvel OF
surgery. is at Bellevue Hospital.
The old man is recovering from the latest
of a series of accidents. which have left
MIN with a fraction of the anatomic~' out
fit will which nature endowed him.
Hale and hearty and still able to folio"
his profession of marine engineering. sur
Beons say that Burns has been the vicrlm
of a remarkable list Of injuries. and Won
der that he has managed to survive them.
According to records in different hospitals
in this country, Burns has thus been dis
membered:
Loss of the entire bOny vault of
skull, top of head being covered with
a silver plate.
Five ribs gone from his left side, re-
moved by surgeons.
Portions of right hip gone.
Both legs fractured in two places,
and both elbow joints missing.
Heart moved from it's original posi-
ton, owing to absence of ribs In left
side.
| Embedded in breast bone n bullet.
which cannot be removed. owing to
Its presence near a main artery.
When the old man rose from his cot TO-
"sS -
fects in his anatomy. He is tall and ruddy,
and wears a long, white beard. He is blind
In his left eye. although this latter fact
cannot be detected by the casual observer.
Il never complain of anything" he said,
with a laugh.
AND I never worry. no matter what the
doctors say they will cut out of me-.
Il was graduated from Annapolis In 1854.
I went on the school ship Hartford. That
was the old wooden vessel.
Then l served on the kearsarge. the new
hartford and other vessels, was Ch.ef en-
gineer on one of the ships Of Rear Admiral
Porter's Mississippi Squadron. in 1864. dur
ing the Red River expedition.
1T was on that expedition that a piece
of shell glanced off the guards and struck
me-. causing a compound fracture of the
skull.
Il was sent to Washington, and from
there to Philadelphia. where Doctor n.
Hayes AEnew trephined my skull in the
University OF Pennsylvania.
Il was seventeen months in the hospital.
and spent seven months on a rubber mat
tress before 1 recovered.
Il had previously been in several engage
ments. and at Shiloh l got a bullet II my
chest
Burns says he left the United States
afterwards became a member of two Arctic
expeditions, one of which started out to
search for the Jeanette.
Il was in a steamboat wreck off the Ca
madam shore on January Is. four years ago.
when I was crushed in the machinery. Thir-
ty-seven pieces Of bone were taken from
my body.
81 have been in good health, in sp;te of
all. until about two years ago. ..hen a
slight parting occurred in two of the plates
of my skull. I had several epileptic at
tacks.
81 went to the post office one day to get
my mail, when 1 had another epileptic at
tack. and fell to the sidewalk. I didn't
know anything more until I woke up in
Bellevue and found that I'd fractured one
of my knee caps"
Burns says that he expects to be out of
the hospital and at work again in a couple
Of, weeks.