Omaha daily bee., 1902-11-02
CRUCIAL TESTS OF NERVE
But Not the Kind Exhibited by the Man
Who ASks You for Ten Dollars.
ATTENDING TO BUSINESS WHILE LIFE EBBED
Fortitude and Grit of Men Under the
Surgeons Knife, on the Hunt
ing Field and in Crit
zeal Situations.

A patient of a prominent New York ply
siclan walked into the %latter's Office the
other day, and as he placed a hand over
the small OF his back, announced:
Doctor, I've a severe pain here; what's
the trouble ?"
strip to the waist and I'll tell you in
short order" replied the practitioner, who
is also well known as a surgeon. After a
brief examination he added:
You've an ugly tumor on your liver"
The man thought a moment, then, II want
II removed at once" he said, quietly.
"Tut, tut, man. don't be so hasty,' eau
tioned the physician. But the patient, more
doggedly than before, answered:
Il mean it. Doc. l want that tumor re-
moved before l leave this ONCE"
The physician looked the man In the eyes
and saw that they wavered not. He felt
his pulse and examined his heart and found
them normal.
"All right" he said, shortly.
Within fifteen minutes a man was lying
on a couch and the physician was making
b ten-inch incision in his back. Half an
hour later the tumor was removed and an
hour after he had submitted to the opera
tion, during which he had refused ether,
the patient, with his liver cleansed. rode
TO his home in a cab. calmly undressed,
went to bed and then told his wife what
had happened.
"He never whlmpered, never quivered an
eyelid," declared the doctor, as he related
the incident: land he would have gone
home alone had l not forced myself into
the cab. He showed absolutely no fear at
anything. and in appearance he looks like
q man who has only an ordinary amount OF
grit. Yet his exhibition of nerve was the
r,oaN N,.ptrgp. that I o-ar hava aapn -
But your nerve. doctor, in performing
such an operation off-hand," interrupted
one OF the auditors.
The reply was laconic:
Lay 1t to the fondness for handling the
knife"
Calmly Faces Death.
For three hours after the recital Of the
doctors story the men who had listened to
It recounted remarkable and almost super
human cases of nerve that they had heard
or met with, and here are some Of the
stories that they told:
A physician prominent in New York
state was interested in manufacturing.
While visiting his factory one day his coat
was caught in a shafting and he was hurled
around and around with terrific force. and
every time he went round his legs struck
an adjacent wall. When he was finally
released he was found to be still alive, and
physlciens we're hurriedly sent for. A half
dozen of them came. beheld their injured
brother and shook their heads.
81 knew it," said the man. I've already
diagnosed the case. You'd Just be vast
ing you time IL you tried to do anything.
But tell me, don't you agree with me that
I'll live about Ave hours before the shock
takes %effect?"
Tho six men OF medicine nodded.
Then send for a lawyer"
The lawyer came. Nationally and
calmly the crushed man dictated his last
will and testament and signed 1t with a
hand as steady as that of a man in full
health.
SNOW" he said, when the last witness
had afixed his signature. please send for
my WIFE,"
A little later on he requested: Call up
Mr.. Blank and Mr.. So-and-So on the phone
and say that 1 want to talk over some i'm
portant business matters with them"
For over an hour the three partners ar
ranged for the conduct of the doctors bust.
ness interests after his death. The con-
ference ended, the injured man turned to
bis wife;
Now, dearest" he said, 'I've still an
hour to live. Give me a cigar, take hold
of my hand. and well wait patiently fol
the end"
And SO he died with a smile on his lips
and the blue smoke Of his cigar curling
about his head.
Taking u Cool Shume.
A man in southern Illinois had com.
United a cold blooded murder. He was q
member Of a notorious secret society Of
criminals and had been selected to put
out Of the way a traitor TO the organiza'
tion. He found his Victim securing the
country as a member of a sherin's posse
for an escaped criminal. The man literally
rode into the arms Of the law, asked hi
victim II he were so-and-so. received al
Affirmative answer, then and there sho
him dead, fought his way through the poss,
and ned. Two days later he was discovered
hiding in a house In a neighboring small
town. He was bored by a dozen bullets
but he lived and was sentenced to b,
hanged.
Then political influence began working
60 save this weakened criminal from tn,