The Detroit times., 1910-08-06
ne SEWs HEART
OF LIVING Man
Philadelphia Surgeon Performs Re-
markable 0peration-Patient Lives
For Two Days.


PHILADELPHIA, Aug. s.-There
were shouts, scufflins Of feet and the
shrill Of police whistles from board.
ing house In 8. Tenth-st.. In the dead
of night. An ambulance changed and
bounded over the cobhlestones four
blocks to the Pennsylvania hospital.
Inside was q moaning. stabbed Negro.
From the mans lett eide was deep
cash.
The chief surgeon came In At half
trot. pulling on his white coat as he
ran. There Was no drowsiness In his
eyes, though Ave minutes before he
had been sleeping so6ndly In his bed.
Stabbed In the heart with . pair
Of shears" the police sergeant had
phoned. A cali Of that description
left no time 70 waste.
One of the attendants pressed .
conc Of ether over the Negro's dos
trils. The other sprang to lift .
supine wrist for the pulse, and with
his other hand removed the bandA9e.
The surgeon turned from the tap with
dripping hands and uprolled slseven,
deity picked a glittering knife from
the glass stand, waited an instant IN
til the moaning ceased and the rigid
hmbs relaxed under the anesthetice
spell, then with one firm stroke cut
. deep slit along the dark side. ana
through the red Jet, ave inches Ions.
The geyser jetted forth again, dye
Ing the surgeons hand. wrist and
knife.
He methodically rubbed his palm
dry on his white coat. aplashed the
knife through the antiseptic solution
to cleanse II, and then with deft, lit
tile jAbs, parted the muscles under the
cash he had made In the sooty sur
face.
I Another squirt OF blood stained his
hand. He was working between the
lettings, between heart beats, now for
the lives OF two men-the man on
the table and the man who had WELD
ed the shears. As the red fountain
lsubsided the surgeons left hand went
Into the Negroes side through the cut,
four fingers and palm to the thumb
The hand turned, prying the ribs
apart. The fingers CROPPED and work
ed and then the hand drew back.
| In the froth and red confusion with
In the cash the attendants saw some
thing darker something more snlid
that hexed and spurted out red jet
that cleared the glass table and splat.
tered upon the white floor.
The surgeon was holding beating
heart on the palm of his hand.
The heart was beating very slowly
now as life ebbed-one beat every
twothree seconds.
The fountain ebbed. The surgeons
right hand reached out for the thread
ed needle. and, when the organ was
relaxed, he thrust the slim poniard
down In, twisted 1t for q second stitch
~ a seamstress gathers the fabric
with her needle, then drew 1t out.
| For an instant the heart quivered,
a. though It felt pain, twitched to the
very edge of paralysis and death, then
relaxed and fiexed into its beat, squirt
ing q warm stream over the surgeons
wrist AZ one might squeeze water
from q leaky rubber ball.
The point Of the shears had pene-
trated the lower left ventricle Of the
heart, making q wound a halfinch
long on the heart surface and q quar-
ter-inch on the inner surface OF the
heart chamber. The vital muscle Ia
thick at this point. Eight stitches
were necessary to close the puncture
and cap the Jet, three underneath,
i've above, the surgeon working be-
tween beats, each beat bathing his
hand and wrist in the mans warm
blood.
The fnal stitch taken. the ends OF
the thread were pulled to close the
wound tight Again the spasm of re-
hex quiverings, at the hair line that
separates the living from the stilled
heart. Then the knot was tied, the
thread shipped of, the surgeons hand
removed. The heart slid back to its
place, the assistants sewed up the sur
face cash. while the surgeon washed
his hands at the tap.
He lost lot of blood, doc"
do him good said the surgeon.
Inflammation not so likely to set in
He buttoned up his street coat and
went home to finish his nights sleep.
The Negro was able to talk to his
| friends next day. But Inflammation
did set In. The shears had left their
poison Two days later the Negro
his name was Jos. Spence, aged 23-
suddenly died In his hospital bed. But
for the Inflammation his recovery was
certain. The marvel ID that he lived
two days.
At the time OF his death another
Negro, who had also been stabbed to
the heart, was discharged from the
Pennsylvania hospital, cured. DR..
Francis T. Stewart Is the surgeon who
performed both operations. and who
has sewed up at least eight other such
hearta