New-York tribune., 1904-08-29
BROKEN BACK NAY HEAL.
HOPE FOR BOY PATIENT.
Ten Months IN Brooklyn Hospital
Case Has Puzzled Physicians.

A surgical case that has deeply interested the
medical STAFF OF ST Johns Hospital (EpiScopaD
Brooklyn is that OF Charles Jardine. hfteen
wears old. whose parents Mr.. add Mrs Charles
q Jardine live at No. 252 Corneia-st. Brook
ixn Nearly ten months ago the boys back was
broken 3y the caving IN Of a tunnel he was dig
,,,,z f., a lot IN Jefsercon-ave.. and since that
+,,,e h.. has been lying I'm the hospital with the
So hale of his body practically dead While
his NE has been despared of, there is hope
no., that he will recover, although IL is not
thought likely be viii walk again
N,r rardinz is one of the managers of E. II.
van Ingen & Co. the wholesale cloth hrm In
E-iftb-are and Twenty-hrst-st Manhattan ne
IS also the clerk Of the Bush~ick Avenue bap-
,ist Church, in Bushwick-ave' ana Eiu@f'-s''
Brooklyn. I'm,
,,ber boys was digging in a tunnel in a bank on
-. ,+ -ir Tefferson-ave. He was in the deep
-. ,,.,, Of the excavation when the earth caNed
=; arriving him and his companions. Ihe olhet
hovs being nearer the entrance. managed u
crawl out but Charles was caught IN Si''iis
positfon and bent over until his back broke
F4,s connparlions ran screaming toward gang
Of laborers near Dy who, with spades anu p''AS'
dug the Jardine boy out. He was carrleu ~ Ms
home and DR.. Arthur ". Slee of No. l'Z"o nan
coel-st.. was called. DR. Slee sent for Dr. Ken
rad, An examination showed that the fifth
and sixth vertebrse had been diSiocateu "''i
the sixth fractured.
Mr. Jardiue telegraphed for his family physi-
clan Congressman Frank E. Wilson VINO was
attending Congress. DR.. Wilson at once s'ar'eu
for home and held a consultation Win the o'iei
two nhvsicfans II decided TO send the poS
10 81. Johns Hospital where the head surgeon
DR. Delatour, replaced the dislocated Nerteor@
and SET the fractured one.
When The youth returned to consciousness ne
had rot the slightest feeling in his body from
his hips down. but the upper half Of his BODY
soon regained its normal condition Since then
mis- fam. nd mother have visited him every
dav The mother in the afternoon and the father
IN the evening on MS return from Manhattan
F,vegv resource in medical and surgical science
was tried. hut not the faintest sense OF fee1ng
could be brought into the limbs. A PIN could be
stuck into any part of them and the boy would
be ignorant OF its presence Electric batteries
and massage treatment were OF no avail Last
week the patient complained of twitching pains
IN his extremities. It just for these pains
that the physicians had been waiting
1T is one Of the most extraordinary cases l
have ever come across" said a we'll known
physician yesterday. "A broken back in an
adult is usually fatal. That it has not been in
this ffteen-year-old boy can be explained only
on the theory that his bones have not become
sufficiently hardened 10y age to render the fract-
ure fatal There can he no doubt that the
spinal cord was mutilated or shocked by the
strain that il became deadened at the point OF
fracture. thereby ntercepting all sense OF feel
ing between The lower part Of the body and the
BRAIN That the lower part OF the body should
have remained dead, 10 all intents and purposes.
for nearly ten months and not affect the health
of the upper part is renarka bic. But that it
should return TO life as the symptoms in
dicate that il is doing. is miraculous When the
Toy was injured l did not believe that he had
one chance in a hundred OF living more than
week 80. while his ultimate recovery seemed
hopeless. Yet there now unmistaka bic signs
that life is returning TO his limbs. How far this
viii extend one can pretend TO say for il is
a case beyond precedent"