The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 13, 1898, Page 21

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY NOVEMBER 13, 1898. 21 Some Months Since One of San Francisco’s Society Women [let With an Acci Perform an Operation. to Save Her Mother. ISS GRACE SHAIN is roine.” This is what society is say- ing of her. usual artificial one companies the gurgling of tea. society is i earnest its was wonderfully The tone is not th that manner a he- ac- When be- calm and courageous.” So say the white-capped nurses and attendants, and they say it in the full- ness of their knowledge of such deeds. “Miss Grac was very brave; re- markebly brave. The doctor says it in the guarded, er that carries con- conservative m viction with it. “I have done nothing worth mention- ing,” declares Miss Shain herself. Yet she has had nineteen finger lengths of skin removed and grafted that another life might be saved. “Not worth mentioning,” her friends indignantly protest. “Ugh! You ought to be given the cross of the Legion of Honor.” “You must remember I did it for my mother. Any one would do as much,” protests Grace Shain. “Well, skin can be bought, to give your own was hero her friends try to convin that is a heroine despi stant refusal to believe that she is en- titled to the honor. Neither Miss Shain nor her mother would discuss the matter. Miss Grace politely but firmly refused. “Mamma w3 for you and so s Shain all she would say, S cised z then grafted new skin on the wounds. They wanted skin from some one who was young and healthy. It was perfectly natural that I should in- g mine. That is all Grace’s point of view. the nurses, and ake her stand- The doctor, least of all h oint. The doctors say that it was not alone what Shain did but her mar of ¢ that is worthy of adm Her friends are £ her throughout the ation, but prouder still that she al- 1 her own skin to be used at all. Shain is one of the most popular younger set of society. She ry pretty girl with fearless, car-cut features and beautiful golden brown hair. Her complexion rivals the tints of the tea rose and it is con- ceded that she is the most graceful dancer at fashionable gatherings. In addition to these attractions she is the rming voice. ss Grace had always been ac- counted a care-free, happy girl, who would not and could not take respon- lities. But when her mother be- she took the worries on her houlders and bore the burden il young in a manner surprising to her most in- timate friends. Four months ago it was necessary to remove Mrs. Shain to a sanitarium. Her limb was growing rapidly worse the doctors determined to resort the last device in their power. Near- two years ago she met with an ac- ident. day her little boy was bout to fall out of his bed. In her rt to catch him Mrs. Shain bruised leg. or two months she suffered but slight discomfort. Then a small red which gradually grew The pain was so excruciating that for ver a year Mrs. Shain did not have undisturbed night's rest. The de- tructive process was so excessive that life was despaired of, when Dr. zstein undertook to operate upon diseased tissue. t the first operation two excisions ere made. One wound closed natur- but it was necessary to graft skin transplant it on the other. It was ded that the grafting should be 1e three weeks after the operation. The Amount Was so Large That They Were in a RITEE, ~——— But where should they get the proper healthy skin for the operation? Then it was that her daughter, Miss Grace, came forward for her mother’s benefit. weeks she forswore excitement of any kind. the chloroform, and the doctors skill- fully removed the skin. Eight small strips were taken from her, and as each piece was removed it was transplanted to Mrs. Shain’s limb. The operation lasted almost an hour. So much pro- fessional interest was manifested in the extraordinary case that over a dozen prominent physiclans besides Dr. Hertzstein were present. Both mother and daughter stood the operation remarkably well. Miss Grace, aside from a little hysterical laughter when she was recovering from the ef- fects of the chloroform, acted as though nothing out of the ordinary rou- tine of her life had occurred. After two or three days in bed she was able to walk, although she limped painfully at first. Her friends had missed her presence, but many did not know the cause of her absence from all gayeties. When it became that she had given her skin for the grafting .she was overwhelmed with tearful praises by those less courage- ous. After a few weeks’ interval a second operation was necessary to excise the remaining diseased tissue. The doc- tors all marveled at Mrs. Shain’s pow- ers of endurance.. Despite her weak physical condition, she underwent both operations with amazing fortitude and rallied through sheer force of will power. This second excision left a space about four by ten inches to be covered with skin. Three weeks after the ex- cision the second grafting was success- fully accomplished. “I felt more nervous before the sec- ond one,” Miss Grace told an Intimate friend. “I dreaded taking the chloro- form. But whenever I felt my cour- age failing I would think how much harder it was for mamma. The day of the operation I was really fright- fully nervous until the last moment. Then I made up my mind to take the chloroform quietly. So I counted one, two, three, inhaled, four, five, six, ete., mechanically, and fixed my thoughts on space. My body seemed to be slip. ping away so gently, and I was mount- ing up, up into space. Then for two generally known and insisted that her skin should be used So for three Calmly and bravely she took GAVE HER SKIN TO SAVE HER TOTHER’S LIFE. dent. The Physicians Required Proper Human Skin- for @Grafting Purposes, in Order to Successfully Quandary Where to Get It. At This Juncture the Daughter Insisted in Having Her Own Skin Removed “lt was a remarkable sight,” said onez of the attendants. ‘‘Mother and daughter were in two adjoining rooms. From where Mrs. Shain lay copscious she could see her daughter in the pext room unconscious, the doctors Miss Grace looked as though she were sleeping; her mother looked as though she were dead. Counting nurses, doctors and visiting physicians there must have been twenty- eight people in the two rooms.” removing her sKin. hours I was unconsciou: During those two hours eleven finger lengths of skin were removed and placed upon her mother’s wound. “It was a remarkable sight,” said one of the attendants. “Mother and daughter were in two adjoining rooms. From where Mrs. Shain consclous she could seé her daughter in the next room unconscious, the doctors remov- ing her skin. Of the two, Mrs. Shain suffered most. Miss Grace looked as though she was sleeping; her mother looked as though she were dead. Count- ing nurses, doctors and visiting physi- cians there must have been twenty- eight people in the two rooms. “As each piece of skin was removed it was carried still warm on the knife and placed on Mrs. Shain. As soon as the two doctors who were attending to Mrs. Shain signaled that one piece was properly placed, the next piece was brought, and so on, until enough had been removed to cover the entire space.” % “It was very sad,” said a lady who was present. “Just before the opera- tion Miss Grace stooped over, kissed Of the two, Mrs. Shain suffered most. her mother and then walked into the adjoining operating room. Through the open door and beyond the physi- cians and attendants she could see her mother lying as still and quiet as though in death. “‘Good-by, mamma, dear,’ she called softly. * ‘Good-by, Grace, darling,’ softly an- swered her mother. ‘T am pot at all frightened,’ called Miss Grace, just before they gave her the chloroform. ‘But, mamma, keep your thoughts on me while I take the chloroform and I know it will be eas- fer. Promise, dear.’ “‘I promise,’ softly repeated her mother.” “So one slipped off into unconscious- ness and the other suffered the con- sciousness of her own and another's pain. 7hen it was all over and Miss Grace had returned to consciousness she called so piteously for her mother that we could not refuse her request. In- stead of putting her in a separate room we made up a cot for her in her mother’s room. “Mrs. Shain and Miss Grace both sing beautifully. All that next day after the operation, when the pain be- came unbearable, they would sing duets from the operas so sweetly that even we forgot our troubles. “They had constant streams of visi- tors and their room was like a flower garden. In a few days Miss Grace was able to go home. Her mother was taken home a week ago. We miss Mrs. Shain very much, for she had been here four months and was always 80 kind and cheerful that she was a great favorite.” Mrs. Shain is practically well now. She is able to walk around the house on crutches, and it is but a question of days when those can be dispensed with and she will be able to venture out. All the diseased tissue has been cut away and her limb, which was de- spaired of, will now, thanks to her daughter, be as sound as ever. “I do not wish to say anything about the case,” said Mrs. Shain, decisively. “Dr.. Hertzstein has assured me that my daughter will not be scarred as a consequence of the grafting, or I should never have permitted it. It is not a matter of public interest and I must refuse to discuss the matter.” But friends and acquaintances insist on discussing the matter. They put themselves in Miss Grace’'s place and doubt whether even under the circum- stances they would have been as self- sacrificing. “It makes us all so angry when Grace says it was a perfectly natural thing for her to do,” said one of her girl friends. “It may have been her duty, but when duty takes suct a form not manv of us are ready to answer its call. Of course we think all the more of her for not making any fuss about it. Still we think she might allow us to do a little heroine worshiping. It isn’t often that we have such an op- portunity.” But Miss Grace is thoroughly in earn- est. She refuses to admit that she has done anything heroic. Society is thoroughly in earnest, too. It claims a heroine. It wills a wreath of laurel on her unwilling head. Miss Shain might as well bow to the inevita. ble. C00000000000000000000000CCOO0C0O0000000000000C0000C0000000000000000C000000000000000000000O00C00000 SAW LINCOLN ASSASSINATED. Extraordinary Experience of a Southern California Man Who Happened to Be Present in the Theater When Actor Booth Shot the President. NTARIO, Cal, May 20, 1898.— For thirty years Samuel A. Mor- ton has carried in a small enve- lope, securely kept in his pocket- bodk, a square bit of buff-colored pastéboard, on which are these words: R R AR AR g @ FORD'S, ® ® Friday, @ @ Balcony, ® ® Row A, Ed ® Seat 16. L4 00020200060 It is the coupon of the ticket, which Mr. Morton used at Ford’s Theater in 00000000000 C00000V000000000000000000 HERE'S ‘A .PDOG T DIVES PTY T EET DOG that makes a leap from a height of fifty feet is the latest in the way of trained animal acts. This remarkable feat is performed by Dink, one of Her- s troupe of trained dogs now at the Orpheum. A little platform is ar- anged at the top of the ladder, to vnich Dink mounts by climbing the adder rung by rung. He mounts the adder very daintily and cautiously, nd when once secure on the platform he looks down at the audience and vags his tail, as much as to say, “Now watch me.” He then looks down at his master, crouches into position and “Dipk” Making One of His Fifty Feet Jumps. with less fuss than a dog would ordi- narily make in jumping from a chair to the floor Dink makes his leap and lands safely on the stage. Mr. Herbert says it took him almost one year to teach Dink to do this peril- ous trick, and he began by teaching him first to jump from a platform arranged on the ladder not more than ten feet from the stage; then it was raised a little higher, and so on until he had reached a helght of fifty feet. Dink looks like a water spaniel, but as a matter of fact he is a Russian poodle, and is probably one of the most valuable dogs in the world—that is, considering his earning capacity. ‘Washington the night President Lin- coln was murdered. He cherishes the memento, and recalls the events of that historical tragedy to-day in all ‘the freshness and vividness of yesterday. He has lived in California twenty years. He came west from Zanesville, O., and lived in San Diego ten years, when he moved to Los Angeles and then to a beautiful orange grove in this local- ity. “‘On the evening of the 14th of April, 1865, sald Mr. Morton, “I was in Wash- ington. T had gone there from Zanes- ville to assist in getting the body of a soldier cousin of mine through the lines, 8o that we could bury it at the old home. I had been in the city ten days, and had watched the illumination and celebration in joy at the surrender at Appomattox and the close of the war. Early in the afternoon of the 1dth, Senator Roscoe Conkling, whom I had known as a boy in Utica, N. Y., told me that he did not have the time to take me to the White House to see ‘Father Abraham,’ as we affectionately called the President, but that he (Conkling) believed the President and General Grant would be together at Ford's Theater that evening, and I could at least go there and see the idol of the loyal nation. “When I went to buy a seat at the theater, I told the ticket seller that I wanted only to see the President at the evening entertalnment and to have the satisfaction bgfore I went home to Ohio. He suggested that I take a seat in the first row of the balcony, where I could have an un.bstructed view of the box that had been set apart for the President’s use. “It was a beautiful soft night for that perfod of the year in that climate when 1 went down town to the theater. There was a big torchlight parade of the naval marines on Pennsylvania avenue, and everyone was happy at the thought that at last the war was reatly a thing of the past.” “I had no sooner taken my seat in the balcony than the Presidential party entered their box opposite and to the left of me. There was a craning of necks by the audience to see the Presi- dent. The draping of flags about the front of the box showed where he was. Mr. Lincoln seemed to be asking one of the young men in military uniform in his party to take the chair nearest the front, but the latter declined, and the President took it. It was an easy chair and about four feet back from the front of the box. “I cou - see the President so clearly that I could observe the heavy lines in his face as he whispered to his com- panions and smiled during the play. I never looked upon anyone so intently as upon him, .nd the lights and shad- ows of the theater were just right to give me a most excellent view. I no- ticed that the wit in the drama pleased the Tresident. Several times he turned and said something to Mrs. Lincoln, who was apparently too absorbed in the play to hear him. Between the acts the President turned his chair and engaged in conversation with the four or five persons in the box. The moment the curtain went up he would move his chair slightly and settle back for more of the plot. The third act of ‘Our American Cou- sin’ was well under way and the drama was becomi.g very interesting when, at almost exactly 10 o'clock, the Presi- dent was assa:sinated. “I happened to be lookin~ stralght at him when the pistol shot rang out. Booth had entered the box from the rear, and going behind to the left of the President shot him in the back of the head. The shadows were such that I could not see the act of shooting, but I saw the flash. I saw the President’s head drop forward, but Booth’s hop- ping over the box rail to the stage and his theatrical display of a dagger di- verted my attention for a moment. I was simply paralyzed for a few seconds at the crime that had occurred before my very eyes. “There was an unspeakable silence in the theater when the shot was fired. William Hawk, the hero of the nlay, was on the stage alone, and was speak- ing some emotional sentiments. The President and all his box were listen- ing with acute attention. Mrs. Lincoln was leaning forward to catch every word. Not even until Booth had half- limped off the stage, and had hoarsely spoken his famous ‘Sic semper tyran- nis,” did I realize that I had actually seen the President shot. No one can understand how quick and amazing it all was. “Mrs. Lincoln turned when the shot was fired, and looked at her husband. As his head sagged forward she caught him as he was falling from the chair. At the same moment that Booth went off the stage I heard her seream in a frightful key: ‘He's shot pa!’ At the same time there were screams from the other women in the box. T saw Mrs. Lincoln holding the President’s great hairy and bewhiskered head close in her lap, while the two men in the box were hauling chalrs aside, and making space on the floor for the recumbent body of Mr. Lincoln. “The news of the assassination went like electricity through Washington. T happened to think that the news would stagger my friend Senator (then Con- gressman) Conkling. So I ran pell mell to Willard’s Hotel where he lived. I knew where his rooms were, I dashed upstairs and never stopped to rap at the door, I burst into the apartments. I came in upon & gathering of the fore- ‘most men of the nation. At any other tiae in my life I should have been par- alyzed at such an unexpected meeting of human greatness. Mr. Conkling, ex-Vice-President Hamlin, Senator Si- mon Cameron and ex-Congressman Zachariah Chandler were having a quiet card game. “I didn't stop to catch my breath or to say, ‘good evening,” I merely blurted right out: “ ‘Mr. Conkling, President Lincoln has just been shot over at Ford’s Thea- ter by a man named Booth. The Presi- dent is probably killed.” “In a twinkling every man at the card table was on his feet, and the cards were dropped. ‘“‘Great heavens, man, are you crazy? exclaimed Senator Cameron. “Mr. Conkling, who was never really excited in his life, said, ‘are you sure?’ Tell us more of this.’” The four states- men walked nervously about, and be- gan getting their hats and overcoats. while I told them between my breaths all that had taken place in the theater. “‘My God, this is horrible, and “what does it r ean?’ were the exclama- tions of the men as they got on their out-of-door garments. “On the way downstairs I met Vice- President Andrew Johnson coming up- stairs. He had evidently just been told the news, for he was breathing hard, and his face was flushed as with sud- den excitement. “When I reached the entrance: of Ford's Theater again the street about was densely packed with people. Sobs and moans of sympathy were heard on every side. I recall that the negroes were particularly loud in their lamen- tations. “Just as T got into the crowd several men were carrying the wounded Presi- dent on a canyas cot bed across the street to a brick house. When the cot passed me one of the men in military uniform who followed with an armful of the personal effects of Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln dropped a shawl and the Presi-. dent’s tall silk hat. I picked them up and so followed along behind the per- sonal friends of the President. The po- liceman at the door of the house sald no word when I passed by with my burden. “Ornce in the house I did not know what to do. There was such a constant stream of arriving men, foremost in national affairs, that I kept back in a corner. I realized then that I was a witness to one of the historical events in America. When I had laid down the President’s hat and shawl, I helped the policeman at guarding the door against the entrance by people who had no right there. I remember that Mrs. Lincoln was helped into the house by her son Robert and a military officer. I let Secretary Stanton and Surgeon- General Barnes into the house. “An hour later the house was taken in charge by the military authorities, and my self-imposed duties came to an end. One of the physiclans with the dying President came to the hall and told me to go quick to his office and ask his wife for a certain probe. When I took the instrument to the door of the chamber where Mr. Lincoln lay, I had a brief glance at the face of the Presi- dent, amid pillows on the bed in the lit- tle, low ceilinged upstairs back room. The only persons in the room whom I knew by si~ht were Secretary Stanton ° in his great spectacles and long beard, and young Robert Lincoln who stood apart by himself, choking with grief.” b s i The commander-in-chief of the French army, General Saussier, is so stout that he can scarcely mount his horse. A 0000000000000 000000000000000000O0000O Price List of Menagerie @nimals. ERE is a price list of animals ex- hibited in menageries. The prices are the latest quotations f. o. b. at New York. Giraffes are the highest priced and the hardest to keep alive. The price of ele- phants is down: Male lions, 4 years. $600 Male lions, 8 year: 500 African lion, large. 1,000 Lioness, breeder, § years 500 Lioness, 3 years..... 300 Tiger, male, large. 1,500 Elephant, small female. 1,800 Hippopotamus, small. 2,500 Elephant, large male. 3.000 Rhinoceros, double horne 3,500 8,000 - 300 250 300 15 75 100 1% 600 150 150 800 60 75 125 Orang outang 400 Chimpanzee .. 500 Pigtall monkeys.... 15 White face ringtail monkeys. S Black face ringtall monkeys. 13 n Spider monkeys. land Nylghau . apitl . Gazelles . Sambur deer. Horned horse. Oryx Fallow deer. Yak, grunting ox. Aoudad Zebra .. Tapir, Sou Seals . Pythons, Anacondas Boas . Red cof Civet cal Badger & Brown deer, Europe. Marmoset ......... East Indlan mountain goat Lop-eared goat. Fat-talled sheep Hog deer....... Swans, black Australlan. Swans, white.. Blue maccaws. White maccaws. Red maccaws.. Cockatoos, wh¥ D! Lead beater ¢ . 008, Wi Ring-neck pare:jets . Blue mountain aroquets R - Casowaries .