Henderson daily dispatch., 1937-09-21
CHAPTER 6

IN THE early part of 1884 there
was an outbreak of measles in the
neighborhood, ard Esther, who had
escaped the malady in her child
hood, fell a victim. AS commonly
happens in these cases, she got it
rather badly, and was depressed
and out of sorts for some time
afterwards. She was sent to
Westbourne for a month, and at
week-ends Tim motored down to
join her at her select private hotel
on the sea front
The thing happened one Sunday
in February on one Of these occa-
sions. A fine afternoon had been
followed by. a dark, gusty night,
with furious scuds of rain blown
over from the sea by a tremendous
southwesterly wind. The Ken
nedys had been to a concert in the
pavilion at Admiral park and had
fingered a few minutes to allow the
crowd to dispense. When they
came out of the park the streets
were almost deserted. The way
back to their hotel lay through a
wide-sweeping crescent of better
class residences. The crescent was
protected, and they only received
the full force of the gale just be-
fore they emerged into the main
road.
A sudden squat lifted Esther's
hat and carried it across the cres-
cent, f1attening it against the rail-
ings on the other side of the road
way. Esther at once jumped
across to retrieve it. She was
three yards from the ratings when
she became aware of a truck
wheeling round from the main
road. The bowling wind had
drowned the sound of her hus-
bands warning shout. She hest
tated, nearly lost her nerve, then
decided to try to get back. There
was just time, but in turning she
slipped on the greasy surface.
The corner was badly lighted,
and the driver, on his proper side,
did not see her until. she was be-
meath his wheels. The truck
carried her a dozen yards before
throwing her, with a hideous sound
of collapse, louder than. could be
conceived possible, back on to the
roadway. Kennedy was up to her
just as the lorry had screeched to
standstill. She lay dreadfully
inert. He thought she was dead.
She lay seven months in a pri-
vate ward at the General hospital
at Westbourne. She had been car
ried there as the nearest place
where assistance could. be given,
and it was afterwards found i'm
possible to move her. The injuries
were terrible compound, fractures
of the right humerus and tibia,
fracture of the base Of the skull,
severe Commissions and decorations
on face and body were the worst.
That she survived. at all was
against all common sense, and for
over week she was not expected
to do so. Both the medical super
interdent and the house surgeon OF
the hospital were uncompromisine
opponents of the purely narcotic
use Of the. stronger drugs, and the
fact that they allowed her to be
given heavy doses of morphia every
night for the first IL days testified
to the hopeless view they took of
the case.
In view of the skull injury
actually the least Immediately seri-
ousEthey were unable to start on
the complicated task of setting the
other fractures until valuable time
had elapsed. y The doctors were of
the opinion that both leg and arm
should be plated, but as the patient
was in no condition to stand an
operation at this stage, they tried
to reduce the fractures by extern
sion. A kind of scaffolding was
built around the bed, and roped
weights passing over pulleys were
g