The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1912-09-26
REMARKABLE OPERATION.
Thirteen Stitches Taken in Mans
Skull with Silver Thread.


ant engineer in the employ of the
Bradley Construction Co., whose
home is in No. rs I'd place, Brook
lyn, probably was saved yesterday by
the surgical feat of taking thirteen
stitches with silver thread through
his skull. Olsen was injured in a
fall from a ladder in the subway ex-
cavation at Duane and Center streets
Yesterday morning, and was hurried
to the Volunteer Hospital in No. SO
Gold street, where DR.. A. j. Savage,
the surgeon in charge, at once began
to operate. So hopeless did the pa
tents condition seem that the last
rites of the Roman Catholic church
were given him by a priest in the
ambulance on the way to the hos
pital.
That Olsen will recover, Savage
admitted, is by no means certain. SO
far as any of the officials of the Vol
unteer Hospital could recall, the
passing of thirteen stitches in a pa
tents skull is an accomplishment
without precedent in the annals of
surgery. Should just one of the fine
silver wires have got into contact
with the engineers exposed brain his
death would have resulted instantly.
The operation lasted almost three
hours, and when it was ended O1sen's
pulse had risen from As beats to 80,
which is reasonably normal.
The nature of his work forces the
engineer to do much clamberins
around the excavation for the new
subway, which is being constructed
by the Bradley Construction Co.
Shortly after noon Olsen ascended
ladder to a point fourteen feet
above the ground. The bottom OF
the ladder slipped, and he was flung
backward. He landed full on the
centre of his skull which was split
open like a melon cut into four parts.
There was a fssure running from
the base of the skull to his forehead,
and another across his head almost
from ear to ear.
Olsen's fellow-employees, thinking
he had been killed, called a police
man stationed near by. He, too, be-
lieved the man was dead, for he
could detect no heart action, never
theless he turned in hurry call fo-
an ambulance. The Volunteer Hos
pital called it's vehicle, which was
stationed at Duane street and Broad
way for the Olympic athletes parade,
and in five minutes DR.. Savage was
at the apparently dying mans side.
Father Gilmore, of st. Andrews S
Roman Catholic church, also had
been called, and as the ambulance
bearing the unconscious engineer
speeded toward the Gold Street In
firmary, the clergyman gave the rites
for the dying. Olsen was recognized
as a Catholic through the scapular
he wore about his neck.
"As soon as . placed the patient
on the operating table and examined
the wound carefully said DR.. Saw
age in telling of the operation, Il re-
allied the only chance of saving his
life lay in taking stitches in his
skull. That is tickliSh task at best,
and under the conditions it looked
almost hopeless. With my assist
ants, DR.. J. Heating and DR.. Michael
Chultz, I set to work at once. First
we had to bore seven holes-four on
one side and three on the other
through the skull at the cross fiss-
ure, and six more on each side of the
lengthWise opening.
'The boring is done with drill
vent it's penetrating one-sixtieth of
an inch further than is intended, in
which small distance it would strike
the brain and cause instant death.
Then the silver threads were insert
ed in the holes and drawn together
about as one laces a shoe-except,
naturally, with more delicate manip-
ulation. The time of the operation
was from lis to about 4:20 p. m.
I have never heard of case where
as many as thirteen stitches have
been made in the skull. The opera
ton was the most interesting in the
history of the Volunteer Hospital. .