The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1910-08-06
He. SENS HEART
Of LIVING Man
Philadelphia Surgeon Performs Re.
markable Operation Patient Lives
For Two Days.


were shouts, scuffling of feet and the
shrilI Of police whistles from board.
ing house In s. Tenth-st., In the dead
Of night An ambulance changed and
bounded over the cobblestones four
blocks to the Pennsylvania hospital.
Inside was moaning, stabbed Negro.
From the mans left side was deep
cash.
The chief surgeon came In at q 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 soundly in his bed.
stabbed In the heart with q pair
of shears" the police sergeant had
phoned. A cell of that description
left no time to waste.
One OF the attendants pressed q
cone Of ether over the Negroes nos
trils. The other sprang to lift q
supine wrist for the pulse. and with
his other hand removed the bandage.
The surgeon turned from the tap with
dripping hands and uprolled sleeves,
deftly picked a glittering knife from
the glass stand, waited an instant un-
TIL the moaning ceased and the rigid
limbs relaxed under the anesthetic's
spell, then with one firm stroke cut
deep slit along the dark side. and
through the red Jet, five inches long
The geyser jettsd forth again, dye
ing the surgeons hand, wrist and
knife.
He methodicaffy rubbed his palm
dry on his white coat, spAshed the
knife through the antiseptic solution
to cleanse IL, and then with deft, lit
tie jabs, parted the muscles under the
cash he had made In the sooty sur
face.
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
subsidized 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 hack.
In the froth and red confusion with
In the cash the attendants saw SONG
thing darker, something more solid
that nexed and spurted out red let
that cleared the glass table and splat-
tered upon the white floor.
The surgeon was holding a beating
heart on the palm of his hand,
The heart Was beating very slowly
now as life obbSdE beat every
two-three 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
as seamstress gathers the fabric
with her needle, then drew 1t out.
For an instant the heart Quivered,
as though 1t felt pain, twitched to the
very edge, OF paralysis and death, then
and fiexed into its beat, squirt
Ing warm stream over the surgeons
wrist as one might squeeze water
from leaky rubber ball.
The point of the shears had pene-
trated the lower left ventricle of the
heart, making wound q half-inch
long on the heart surface and quar-
on the inner surface of the
heart chamber. The vital muscle is
thick at this point Eight stitches
were necessary to close the puncture
and cap the Jet, three underneath,
1--WE above, the surgeon working be-
tween beats. each beat bathing his
hand and wrist In the mans warm
blood.
The final stitch taken, the ends of
the thread were pulled to close the
wosnd tight. Again the spasm of re-
fiex 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 a lot of blood, doc"
do him good" said the surgeon.
Inflammation not so likely to set In"
He buttoped up his street coat and
went homA 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 %
suddenly died in his hospital bed. But
Tor the Inflammation his recovery was
certain. The marvel is 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
hospital, cured. DIR.
Francis T. Stewart Is the surgeon who
performed both operations. and who
has sewed up at least eight other such
hearts.