The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-10-18
HE IS 4 HANDY MAN
This Characteristic of George Sutton
Is Notable Because He Has No
=
He Tells How He Accustomed Him
self to Get Along Without
Those APPENDICES.

Helpless is the man that has mashed
his finger with a tackhammer. His ban
daged hand appeals everywhere: for help.
! "Thank you, thank YOU" he murmurs to
sympathetic strangers as they assist him
to put on his coat, to prepare his food,
to perform the simplest duties of his daily
| life. And when man with one arm only
contrives to do most things with a single
hand, friends admire his "wonderful'' dex-
! terity. why, he actually rides a
wheel!'' they exclaim. -. :,
But suppose he had no hands at all ?
He might as we'll be dead, most people
would imagine. They would compare him
sadly to the tongue1ess woman And If,
Eby chance, he learned to wiggle out a
mark explained as his signature; If he
managed to eat alone with a big spoon
and a. dull knife-he would call himself
proudly "handless wonder" and he
would sell photographs with his feet on
the platform Of a dime museum. But he
could do little else without assistance. He
would have always at his side valet, a
nurse, a Parthenia to his Ingomar, part
ner and associate, whose hands would be
his hands. He wouldn't be expected to
trust himself alone. Poor fellow" the
world would say. ''He must feel like a
log of wood! It's like finding yourself
paralyzed in a. frightful nightmare! He
hasn't any arms at all!"
Yet he might have a brain if no hands.
| "A dog would soon die without his fore
feet" said George H. Sutton of Milwaukee
| this morning a t the West hotel AN ele-
| plant wouldn't be in it with a. mouse, if
the big fellow lost his trunk and didn't
have the check. But a man has his brain,
and, really, he doesn't need his hands.
He can get along without them easily
| enough I never use them. And I can
| do almost anything that the next man
does except play the piano. I prefer the
Jews harp, anyway, continued Mr.. SUIT
ton, laying down his pen and sealing a
! letter to his house in the Cream City.
Mr.. Sutton has done without his hands
| for a quarter of a century. 1t was as
farmers boy, years DID,: and CORE
I spondingly inquisitive, that he took a
| dare to stand up close to a. circular saw
in mill near Toledo, Ohio. The moving
plank caught him suddenly. The big,
| bright saw jumped at mel haven't for
got it-and the next minute, I thought, I
woke up in bed with pain in both arms.
They say I came near being cut in two.
But put out both hands to save myself
and they were sawed off about five inches
below the elbow. 3s5 =.
! II didn't know it, though. Ny arms
were bandaged for long time. I asked
them to take the bandages off. I just want
to move my hands, I said, they're all
cramped up That made mother cry. ]
kept complaining about my hands till a
small brother of mine limited that I
needn't 'bozzer about EN- You amt
got no hands, George said the kid,
'theys frowed away. The doctor, he put
'em in the ground! ..
| "Well, if I'd been older that would have
knocked me out. But I didn't know
| enough. I wouldn't believe the kid, said
I guessed I could feel my hands all right,
until my sister got to crying, and ]
guessed that it was true.
| But could feel the hands right there,
though all cramped UP, for weeks after !
was hurt. I was told later by doctors that
the actual hands were probably cramped
in the box where they were buried, and
| that it would have relieved me If the
hands had been dug up and Strengthened.
That looks like a pipe dream, but I've
read about such cases since, especially in
reference to soldiers that had lost their
legs from wounds.
And when my arms healed up was
helpless enough, the Lord knows. Only
was too young to know how bad of was
Besides, as soon as I got up and around
objected to having everything do1e fol
me. I wanted to do things for Dcself."
This desire will be always manifest ir