St. Paul recorder., 1953-01-23

Finally, in Fayetteville, some 81
miles from the scene of the acci
dent, space was found for them IL
a Negro hospital. And nearly foul
hours after the accident, they re,
ceived adequate medical attention
for the first time.
One Of the boys died an houI
after reaching the Fayetteville in.
stitution. The second remained un.
conscious for two weeks, but re.
covered. (Source: Report Of
President Brawley of Clark Col.
Iege. December 18, 1919
6. In December Of 1949, a Puer.
10 Rican-born author, Eric Her
.ules, was struck down by an
auto in Chicago. An ambulance
took him to Woodlawn Hospital
where, an hour and forty-five
minutes later, he was transferred
o the Cook County Hospital
Three hours later he was dead OF
I fractured skull.
The supervisor at Woodlawr
vas quoted as offering this rea
'on for refusing Hercules admis
sion: II don't think we had a bed
"oom at the time. We could have
3et up a bed in the hallway, bu'
lid not want to assume the re
possibility for the man." Wood
avn generally only accepts Ne
yroes as out-patients. (Source
The Chicago Defender, December
II, 1949.)
7. On August 27, 1850, three vic
Tins Of an auto accident were de
MED beds in Breckenridge Count!
Hospital, Hardinsburg, Kentucky
because the establishment had IN,
facilities for colored people
They were left lying on the flooi
Of the emergency room for three
hours. Their wounds were untend-
ed and the only medication given
them was morphine.
One OF the men died on the floor
and, ironically, his family later
received a bill for services rem
dered." The others were removed
to Louisville General Hospital
where they eventually recovered
one sustaining permanent par
tial paralysis as the result Of a
broken back. (Source: Interracial
Hospital Movement, Louisville,
Kentucky.
8. On December 8. 1850, Mat
thew Avery, a "a year-old World
War II veteran attending North
Carolina A & T College, was crit
ically injured in an automobile ac-
cident near Mebane. North Caro-
lima. He was brought to Alamance
General Hospital, where it was
learned he had sustained frac-
lures of the skull, cheekbone, jaw,
leg and arm.
But every one of Alamance's
five Negro beds was full so he
was rushed on to Duke Hospital
at Durham. Here. according to
the account Of the superintend-
ent, "our regular facilities were
filled" q. e., the Negro ward was
filed and the question whether
Avery would stand the best
chance from treatment In our
emergency room or by transfer to
Lincoln Hospital" "a Negro in
stitution) was debated.
The latter course of action was
decided upon and Avery was sent
to Lincoln where he died an hour
after admission. Despite Dukes
apparent solicitude, the ambu-
lance drivers request that some
one phone ahead to Lincoln went
unheeded, Attaches there reported
no such call had been received and
they had been unable to make any
preparations for the patients ar
rival. (Sources: Afro-American
December IS, 1850; Carolina
Times, December 0, 1850; North
Carolina A & T Register, January
1851
9. In February, 1861, an 1s-year
old boy, suffering from sugar dia-
betes, died after being refused ad-
mission to the Akron (OD City
Hospital. When the lad, Robert
Hudson, a star high school bas-
ketball player, became seriously
i'll, his physician tried TO place
him in one of the city's three hos
pitfalls. But the best he could do
was to get him on the waiting
list" where he remained for 81
hours. When Hudson lapsed into
coma about midnight. his
mother called an ambulance, took
him to City Hospital and sought
room without success. Hudson
died in the emergency room five
hours later.
The hospital could not provide a
bed because they claimed they
were "all filled up" What was
meant was that all the Negro
beds We're filled. While the wards
were not segregated, It was the
hospitals policy not to mix" its
semi-private rooms, their being
occupied on either an all-white or
an all-Negro basis,
While Hudson lay dying, there
was an empty bed-but II was in
a rOOm OCctinied hy a uyhita man