The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1908-05-29
TALES OF
A LITTLE-KNOWN HERO.

A LITTLE-KNOWN HERO.
A man lately died in California
who had had one of the most eXtraor-
binary careers of any one connected
with the Civil War, and yet whose
name was almost unknown by the
public. His story is told in the Bos-
ton Transcript.
When the war broke out Lieut.
Colonel G. F. Robinson was young
man of twenty-nine. Although he
was not "copperhead, his views
regarding the war were such that he
of the Maine town in which he lived.
He resisted the draft as long as pos
sible, but was finally captured by the
/ provost marshall and put into Com
pany B of the Eighth Maine Regi-
ment, and went to the front.
Robinson, becoming ill, was sent
to a Washington hospital. During
his long period of convalescence he
was transferred to the corps of
nurses, and became we'll known as a
proficient nurse. He never returned
to his regiment, but remained on hos
pital duty.
Toward the latter days of the war
Secretary of State Seward was taken
sick, and as good nurse was needed,
Robinson was sent to him. 1t will be
recalled that on the same night when
President Lincoln was assassinated
by Booth, another assassin, named
Payne, undertook to murder Seward,
as he lay sick in his home.
Payne succeeded in getting into
the sick room, and made an attack
upon the invalid with a dagger. The
Secretary's son, Frederick, inter-
vened, and was seriously cut.
Then the nurse, Robinson, got into
action, and by his fearless and ener-
getic work succeeded in placing
Payne in a condition from which no
further difficulty was experienced on
his account He is said to have used
first a chair and then a wash-stand
in his effort to knock OUT the
would-be assassin before he could
kill the Stewards, and was successful
L
the services of a surgeon when he
had been taken into custody.
For this service Robinson received
a gold medal through an act of Con-
! gress, and five thousand dollars in
money. He also had the offer of a
clerkship in one of the departments
j at Washington. In 1879 he was ap-
pointed major and paymaster in the
regular army. In 1904 Major Robin
son was made lieutenant-colonel on
the retired list.
THE YOUNG MAN RECOVERED.
| If it be the case that the magma
| ton has much to do in the healing
of the sick, as all physicians admit,
| it is not unreasonable to hold the
same mental faculty responsible for
| many illnesses The author of For
! ty Years in New Zealand" was mis-
sionary among the Maoris half Gen.
tury ago, and had to care for the
| bodies as well as for the souls of his
people. One of his medical cases
was of peculiar interest.
AS an example, says the mission
ary, may cite the case of an athletic
young man who was brought to me
one day by a venerable old chieftain.
From head to foot the young man
was trembling with excitement. He
had come for some medicine. The
cause of his illness was that he had
| by accident eaten 'sacred potato.
He most firmly believed that for such
an act of sacrilege the offended god
had entered his stomach in the form
! of a lizard, and was consuming his
vitals. Unless I could deliver him
he must die. 1t was equally vain to
laugh, or to reason with superstitious
! fear.
After making the orthodox exami-
nation of my patient, gave him some
aperient pills, and told him to keeL
quiet for a while and he would re.
cover The next day 1 was told thai
! the young man was still ill, and
would die. Repairing to the village
I found him pale, haggard but re
signed, sitting at one end of Ions
hut open in front. From twenty tc
! thirty chiefs were seated near him
) smoking their pipes and discussing
| the current news. The old womer
were preparing the ovens for the en-
| tertainment of his friends, who
| would flock to the place on the re
| port of his death. In three days ht
was to die, and they were making
preparations for the event.
l expressed my regret and disap
! pointment, and re-examined my pa
tient. l found out my mistake;
had given him medicine internally
| l would now apply it externally; ant
with an air of the greatest confidence
! | assured them that he would recover
! Immediately on it's taking effect, ant
| this they would know by its produc
ing stinging pain. On this 1 sen
him a blistering plaster, with direc
tions to apply it on his chest. II
less than an hour the young maj
cried out, "It bites, it bites" and al
said, Now he will recover" and 81
| he did