Arizona republican., 1910-07-03
NORMAN |. ORME HAS
A ROOSEVELT BABY
Born on the Day the Rough Rider
Parent Welcomed His Former
Leader in New York.

The following from the Washington
Post refers to a young man who was
born and raised i'm this valley and who
until the Spanish American war, in
which he participated as one of the
youngest soldiers, was probably as well
known and as highly respected here
as any lad that ever grew up in the
valley. He is son of H c. Orme
and has many other relatives and a
host of friends still living here though
in later years few of them have heard
from him often and will be pleased
to know OF his happiness and prosperi-
ty, through the Post, which SAYS:
About the time Saturday morning
that Norman l.. Orme, erstwhile Rough
Rider and one of the favorite "Roose-
welt boys was grasping the hand Of
his distinguished former chief at the
Battery in New York city, lusty
young man entered his family at his
home in Taqoma Park and was named
forwith Theodore Roosevelt Orme.
Friends wired Mr.. Orme, and the
happy father promises to greet his new
son in person as soon as ne can tear
himself away from the festivities in
New York
Orme, who has been employed in the
treasury department for the last nine
years. bears the distinction, according
to army surgeons, of having been the
worst wounded man who survived his
injuries in the Spanish-American war
But after seven months in a Brooklyn
hospital he is the father Of three
healthy children and apparently suffer-
ing no permanent i'll from his terrible
experience with the Rough Riders in
Cuba.
When Theodore Roosevelt, in answer
to President McKinley's call for vol
unteers, went to the front and called
for a regiment of hardy horsemen to
go through campaign in Cuba, one
of the first to answer was Orme, then
an adventurous young rancher i'm Ari-
zona. When, a few months later, the
order was given to clear the Spaniards
from the sheltering thickets Of FL Ca
ney. one of the first to fall in the
charge was the same young man, sup
posedly mortally wounded.
The Mauser bullet that threatened
to cut short Orme's military career en-
tered his left arm as he was raising
his gun to fire, broke his arm in two
places and passed through his body,
drilling through his lungs and tearing
his pericardium, the delicate sac which
envelops and protects the heart, almost
entirely away from that vital organ
Orme was picked up at the point of
death. and with other wounded placed
on a transport bound for home. SO
desperate was his case that the over
worked surgeons on the ship paved lit
tie attention to him during the trip
home. preferring to labor over those
for whom there seemed some hope of
recovery. But his strong constitution
Injured to the hardships of the COW
camp and roundup kept him alive
despite this excusable neglect. and the
end of the journey found Orme still
fighting for life.
He was taken to hospital in Brook
lyn for the first real medical attention
he received. Interested in his case,
the best medical and surgical talent in
New York enlisted in his cause, and a
surgical operation. said to be at that
time unprecedented, was decided upon
This operation involved the opening of
the chest cavity from the back and
the stitching of the delicate pericardi-
um membrane while the pulsing heart
was held in the hand of an attending
surgeon.
For weeks after the operation the
attending physicians were afraid to
pronounce the experiment successful. |
but finally the young soldier though |
wasted to a shadow of his former self. !
was declared on the road to recovery. |
Seven months later he was discharged |
from the institution.
Meanwhile his progress has been |
eagerly watched by his former comrades
and by no means the least interested |