The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1915-03-19
PUZZLES The
ABLE MEDICOS
g.
Boy Lives and Plays With
Bullet In Brain.
Nothing Like Wisconsin Case
Known To Medical
Profession.


be the protege of medical science
That he is alive is the remarkable
part of this story and that the medi
cal world is bafiled. and yet vital!
interested, a purely predicated cir
cumstance. The Mayo brothers o.
Rochester and dozen other nation
ally famous doctors have written tC
KeDosha for detailed histories of the
boys case. and the entire medica
profession has expressed a deep in
terest.
For Steve" carries ipbedded in
the very center of his brain tissue a
lead slug that once was pistol bull
let. II will stay there the rest of his
life. 1t doesn't affect him, and nc
one would ever have known it if the
boy himself had had his way.
The accident which made the phe-
nomenon possible occurred on Sun
day afternoon, February 2S. Steve
who is 10, and his brother Albert,6
were left alone in the Stec home.
The night before the boys had been
to the movies. They watched with
ecstatic awe as the cowboys killed
the bandits and the Indians.
When they found themselves alone
the next afternoon the big pistol that
Papa Stec kept in his bureau and
which they had been warned never
to touch, proved too great a tempta-
ton Tor the boys.
Steve got the weapon, but it was
Al who wanted to be the cowboy.
Steve let him have it and obediently
went to sleep" before an imaginary
campfire in the CRATE, in the role. OF
the bandit while the younger
brother crept upon him.
Albert put the muzzle of the weap-
on against Steve's head and pulled
the trigger. By all the laws of ma
ture Steve, writhing on The floor with
blood spouting from the back of his
head, should have merely been an
other paragraph in the century-old
tragedy of child and ungarded fire.
arms.
But Steve. almost before the re-
port died away, was on his feet.
Gimme that gum" he grumbled
at the kid brother"
Look at that carpet, you'll ketch
it," was his next observation.
Hprriedly he put the pistol back
in the bureau drawer, Remembering
to put a fresh cartridge in the cham
her in place of the exploded one.
Then he led a rummaging expedi-
ton on the family linen closet. Tow
els were found to bind around his
head 10 stop the flow of blood. and
a wash basin and scrub rag soon
cleaned up the tell-tale stains in the
living room.
When their father and mother
came home Steve and AL sat looking
at the pictures of Sunday comic
supplement. Steve's head was wash
ed clean of blood and his thick black
hair "slicked" into place to cover the
wound.
Monday morning Steve wouldn't
get up TO go to school and in the
afternoon DIR. John N. Palt was call
ed. He examined the boys tongue
and his pulse and took his tempera-
tuTe. Everything appeared normal.
The doctor was puzzled. Casually
he placed his hand on the little fell
lows forehead Steve WINGED.
The doctor asked him what hurt
him, but the boy would not tell. DR..
Palt. however, was curious and made
"A minute examination. The matted
blood on the back of his head show
ed. The wound was cleaned up and
the bullet hole showed. Steve cried
and Al wept copiously, but nothing
could be pried out of either as to how
the wound was made.
DR.. Palt told the boy to get up.
Steve did and walked to the doctors
automobile. He sat up all the way
TO the Kenosha Hospital. He even
walked into the ward. But there
his strength failed and he collapsed.
An X-ray photograph was taken
and the bullet located. The wound
was in the back of the head on a
level with the top of the ears and
about an inch closer TO the right than
TO the left ear. The bullet had rang
ed upward and inward, lodging in
the very center of the brain, midway
between the ears and about 21s inch
es directly down from that section of
the Uranium known in babies as the
"soft spot"
To probe for the bullet would have
killed the boy. So DR.. Palt cleansed
the wound and put Steve in bed.
Steve came out from under the an
aesthetic and saw the pictures from
the X-ray.