New-York tribune., 1907-12-30
LOSES APPENDIX AT SEA
OPERATES IN WILD GALE.
Steamer Stops While Smgeo" Uses
Knife on StOker.

ON Christmas Eve, While o0o passengers oh
the Cunard liner Pannonia We're praying Tor de-
Iiverance from one of the worst gales the At
lantic has ever known. a stoker was operated
on for appendicitis. He was able to SIT out Oh
the deck when the steamer docked yesterday.
IT was one of those cases where the ships sur
seon had to act quickly and use all his skill 10
save a mans life, giving little or no h>ed 10
the possibility of the scalpeFS slipping Wheh the
steamer lurched under the blow of a comoef-
IF the doctor waited for calm weather he knew
his patient would surely die He knew too' tnal
il was dangerous work to explore for an ap-
pendix at a time when he himself m1ghI oe
bowled over the operating table at any moment
But nit or miss the big stoker must be oper-
ated upon Taking big chance. Dr. }. fran
els Orr put modern Hercules uhoel '' ~
saved him from death.
Bob" Law is the patient. lie Is d huShS
Scotchman about twenty-eight years old
The Pannonia cleared Gibraltar on December
16 and on that night Bob complained OIL p'''iS
in the right side of his abdomen He TOOK from
a fellow stoker glass or two OF the hiA'"-
that never failed and admitted ne let d "e'
bit better But three days later the pam re-
turned and the chief engineer took from tIe
medicine chest big dose of black draft
and gave It to Bob" That should have cured the
stoker according to the belief in the stokehoie'
but I, didn't and Bob had to turn into MS
b,,rl. for keeps" Reports of the mans illness
never got any further than the engine room
until about 10 D. IN. on December "A. when the
wiseacres of the freroom thought IL might NC
we'll to send for DR.. Orr.
One basty examination of the helpless stoker
was sufficient for d diagnosis, and WITHIN teii
minutes DR. Orr had the young Scotchinan on d
table in the steerage hospital aft lie sent i'i
Dr T6r0k. the physician sent aboard all pas
.arl1 IN
the Hungarian government. He asked him to
assist in the operation. DR.. Torok thought IL
desperate undertaking in such heavy sea- put
consented and attended to the duties usually
assigned To a trained nurse. Dr.. Orrs assistant
administered the anesthetic, and within one
hour after he stretched out on the operating
table Bob" Law able to understand WHAT
the doctors meant when they informed him that
his vermiform appendix probably floating
in the Atlantic a mile or two away.
When the patient was well under the ihnuehce
of the ether. Dr. Orr found it almost impossioie
to make an incision The Pannonia, plunging
into heavy head and lurch1ng under the
stress of sudden blasts of the gale. made it al
most irupossibIe for him to stand on his feet
Although braced and strapped 10 keep IT from
rolling. the big stoker's body slipped on the
smooth operating table.
Insdesperation DR.. Orr sent WORD 10 Caplali
Irvine, asking him to bring the Pannohla 10 d
dead stop for an hour or two until he could per-
form the operation. which Is considered q deii-
cate one even under best conditions 1t was eA-
nisined by tho doctor that he would run fewer
chances IL the steamer got into the trough OF the
sea. as IL was the shock and jar of plunglnS
into head seas while under way that made the
operation particularly hazardous Dr. orr oi'
not have to explain much TO Captain Irvine. for
.ho Iattor ordered the steamer stopped at once.
The surgeons worked cautiously, cutting into
the abdominal region between 1urches- and
within thirty-nve minutes after the Pannonla
had stopped her commander got Word thdt tile
operation was over and Bob Law would pull
through The operation the talk OF the
steamer when the Pannona docked yesterday
The only man not wrought up to concert pitch
over it was Dr. Orr. He said the operation was
performed under annoying circumstances, put
apart from that he did not see anything unusuai
about It, Bob Law thought 1t was a great
lob.