The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-03-17
Remarkable Operation in Which
Electricity Was Chief Element.
(Kansas City Journal)

tkanSas City Journal
Totally deaf and dumb for ten years
and seven months, Robert Rafferty,, &c
years old, OF Kansas City, last Satur-
day regained his hearing, and on Sun
day recovered his power of speech. A
remarkable scientific operation, in
which electricity was the chief element,
restored these powers. and now Raj
ferty says he is the happiest man in
the world.
1t is q noisy world we live in, sure
enough" he said i never heard so
much noise in all my life before as
have heard the last two days. I sup-
pose, though, that It viii not be so bad
when ] become accustomed to it."
Saturday afternoon Rafferty, under
went the first operation, which he says
consisted OF submitting for fifty min
utes 10 an electrical current passed
through the ears and parts Of the brain.
On Sunday he took the second treat
ment, and submitted TO the ordeal for
two hours and forty minutes.
The first word the doctor asked when
the bandages and metal contacts were
removed was, Irish, can your hear?"
Sunday afternoon, when the bandages
were again removed, the doctor asked
NAAG EG[OlAtA HItHlEOtlr Jl4Sis tcii you
speak, and Irish" answered both ques-
tons at the same time. He said, 81
sure can
Rafferty, still speaks slowly and care
fully and has trouble pTonouncing his
words He evidently has TO think of
each one before he utters It. as he
hesitates frequently and even shutters.
L had the hardest time to say 'es-
pecially' the first time he continued.
'I knew how it ought to sound, but 1
could not get my tongue to do it. 1
studied in the deaf and dumb school
ct Jacksonville, Ill, for two ard a half
years and learned to talk with the
hands. ] find myself unconsciously
forming the words on my fingers now.
when l talked in the deaf language
I formed every word in nv mind as /
went along. ] was IS years old when
the accident which left me deaf mute
happened.
II had a high school education and
was working with my father as a fire.
man on mis- engine trying to earn
enough money to put me through coll
lege. While we we're switching on a
siding at Chillicothe, ILL.,. an express
train crashed into US and ] came out
of the wreck unable to speak, and my
hearing was gone.
81 cannot begin to tell how strange
it all seems ana yet how natural The
first sound I heard seemed like some
one talking down well. when went
out into the street and heard the street
cars for the first time 1 was actually
frightened. ! could not seem to get
away from the noise.
Friday night the doctor told me
that ] had one chance in a thousand of
regaining these powers, and a very ex-
cellent chance of losing them and all
the rest. Ny emotions that night and
the next day until the moment the
first sound struck my ears are too hor-
ribse to even think about l wanted
to die and have it all over with could
not bear the thought of failure. 1t is
settled now and l think I will get used
TO it before very long,"
year after the accident Rafferty's
father was taken violently insane |
Brooding over the boys condition was
the cause. A few months after the
fathers illness the mother died She |
never recovered from the shock. Raj |
ferty declares his father is wealthy, |
but wanted the boy to earn his way
through college. as he had done before |
uate Of Oxford college. England
DIT. Gregory. New York specialist
and boyhood friend of Rafferty's faith |
err, performed the operations. DIR. Greg
DRY was passing through Kansas City
on his way to Los Angeles and stopped |
long enough to carry out his purpose |
He had proposed the operation six
years ago.
Rafferty, is known to the fans and |
professional baseball players as Dunn |
my Moore" He says ne took the alias
because his people were opposed to his |
playing He was a pitcher for Nash |
vile. Tenn. and at one time played for |
Peoria in the Three-I league.