The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1902-02-07
OLD KENESAW'S; T;
LAST BATTLE
The Story
of Dying Veteran.
BY CHARLES b. YOUNGER.
BY CHARLES b. YOUNGER.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

x of q Dying Veteran. x
q BY CHARLES b. YOUNGER. q
8 6>o>o>o>c>o~ooeo>o>o>c>o>6
"Old Kenesaw is dying"
Had some careless attendant left a
door or window open that winter morn
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 a 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, 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, doctorT' The head nurse
had witnessed other death struggles,
and 1t Is said that nurses become inur-
ed to such scenes. But the girls inter-
1f <ha laFk
her presenting a picture Of abject mis-
Iery. 'Oh. dear. dear, to think that
kind Old kenesaw must suffer sol!
Through her wet eyes she looked at
the poor. wasted old body writhing and
twisting upon the cot. "Oh. doctor. IL
you are quite sure he cannot recover,
Is there no way-can't you make the
end less painfulT
DR.. Blank had turned away from the
scene and was looking vacantly out Of
the window. II he made no immediate
response to the nurses appeal. 1t 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 II as hopeless beyond all
human means.
What could be done to ease Old
Kenesaw In 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-
lperience.
Aside from the means OF the dying
man the little room was quiet. The few
seconds that the doctor stood there
pondering seemed an age to the nurses
land the internes, who first glanced In
sadness and terror at the patient. then
In appeal to the silent man at the win
dow. Presently the doctors dark,
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 hastened through
the hall to carry out these instrpctions,
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 dyingw
Never was a 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.
ed into the free clinic and asked for
treatment As mo. "a" 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. 1t 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
to depart from the hospital. and. In
$ fact, no one wanted him to go. He
bad become a sort Of general factotum
and his services were regarded a.
0 well worth his bed and board
: Old patients and new internes
t nurses, medical students. the entire
hospital staff and even the visitors a
the institution came to know him ia
e miliarly. His slow. shuftiing step ant
:: the CHEEKY click Of his cane on tn,
hardwood floors were as familiar al
the scheduled visits Of the nurses ant
always as welcome. II not more 80.
o Old Kenesaw had access to ever!
J. nook and corner of the hospital Th
0 patients drew inspiration from bill
q kindly old face, and his stories o
camp and battle served as q tonic.
To the children in the hospital Ker
esaw was the Incarnation Of ALI tina
r was good. kind and helpful. He wa
e their chum, their never failing friend
d He would creep to the cots of the lii
le tie sufferers, chase away thoughts o
II pain and bring smiles to their wa
faces with his inexhaustible fund o
le stories.
't Once when a child, scaling the dizz
le heights between life and death. ha
y cried for some goldenrod 1t was Q
record that Old Kenesaw had trudi
ed eight miles to find large bunch G
e' the flaming yellow flowers and place
~ them where the child could see then
He lured the little patients to slee
: with his quaint old luhabies whe
!" nurses words and doctors opiates ha
failed Small Wordec they all love