The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1915-03-19

crets right away from him"
Then he told of the Sunday after
noon near tragedy.
But don't tell dad" he begged
He'd lick AL; and | don't want the
kid to get in trouble. He didn't
mean to hurt me, and, anyhow, I'm
all right now"
All Tuesday night Steve slept
quietly. Wednesday he had fever
and Wednesday night his life was de-
SPARED Of But Thursday afternoon
he rallied again and from then on
improved steadily.
A week after the shooting he sat
up in bed. The next day the ban
dages were taken from his head and
he was allowed to walk around the
ward. Then DR.. Palt announced that
as far as he could see Steve was a
well boy again.
The story got around of how the
hoy with a bullet in his brain" was
kUtls W 6CN DttNNis anu GUS VI
letters poured in to the hospital every
day. Toys and candy and just we'll
wishes came with every mail. Steve
took them all thankfully. but de-
manded roller skates and a baseball
bat. And he insisted that he be al
lowed to go home by Saturday, the
18th. to practice with the other
kids" for his grade school baseball
team.
1.-The case is remarkable" said Dr.
Palt. THE boy. by all precedent and
medical law, should be dead. But
instead he is alive. very much alive.
and apparently as normal as before
the bullet lodged in his brain. At
first / feared that when he got out
of bed the pressure of the lead might
affect him. So l allowed him to be
on his feet in the wards, as a sort of
experiment. Nothing happened.
II allowed him more liberty. but
still watched him carefully. Moth
ing happened.
THE boy, apparently. is cured, and
there will be no evil effects. In time
there may be some developments
from the bullet. 1t may weigh down
on The brain and lessen the boys
mentality in some way. / believed
at first that the penetration OF the
brain cells would show its effect in
some action of the boy. The differ
ent areas of the brain are localized
to control the action of the different
limbs and organs. But there has
been no effect this far.
Doctors of national reputation
hive written me for detailed history
of the case and several have prom
ised to come to see the boy himself.
No precedent exists in medical his
tory, so far as | have been able to
discover.
81 have no explanation to offer for
Steve being alive. II would be pre-
posterous for me to claim credit for
his being so. I shall watch Stece
and will eventually report a complete
chronology to the American Medical
Association.
Steve himself is, boylike. a little
proud of the fact that he can attract
so much attention. but he strenuously
defends little Al, who shot him.
"Y'see he's just a kid" expostu-
lates Steve when any one suggests
that Al was reckless. or in any way
to blame. II couldn't get him a
spankin'. Never tell on a kid broth
err. You can fight with him if you
want to, but you're a nut OF big
brother if you tell on him. or let any
one else fight with him.
1T don't make no difference how
much trouble or how many fights he
gets into, stick by a kid brother.
81 told my dad when he came to
see me here that if he spanked AL
for shootin' me I'd run away as soon
as got up, and he didn't spank him.
My mother keeps kissing me when
she comes here and cries. I like the
kissin' all right. but there amt moth
in to cry about.
"And just maybe the other fell
lows won't be jealous when get out
me bein' the only kid in the whole
United States with a bullet in his
brain. Maybe that won't make 'em
dizzy, huh?"