More Chester Misfortune

Continuing on the topic of amputation, I came across an incident too horrifying to be treated as a statistic.

It happened on Charles Chester's farm when he was living in Section 19 of Hobart Township, northwest of Hobart. On the morning of Saturday, February 15, he and his eight-year-old son were sawing wood with a horse-power attachment. (Going by the 1900 Census, the eight-year-old would have been his stepson Arthur.)

I'm no expert on historical farm machinery, but I found a photo of a "horse power" attached to a sawmill, and here's a video of the mechanism in action. This may have been the sort of arrangement they were working with.

At first the boy was walking around the horse power, driving the horses. After a while, Charles somehow fixed up a seat for the boy atop the horse-power platform. The child was on that platform when disaster struck. The Hobart Gazette explained: "[I]n some manner the lad lost his balance and in falling reached out his left arm. His fingers caught between the cogs of the large and small wheel and [literally] ground his arm to the shoulder before the machine was stopped."

The family quickly sent for help. Dr. Joseph Watson of Hobart treated the boy, but couldn't save his arm — it had to be amputated at the shoulder.

A little more than two weeks later, the boy returned to school. No physical therapy? No counseling? The modern mind boggles.

The Gazette concluded by saying that the boy's "recovery is somewhat remarkable and Mr. Chester speaks in great praise of Dr. Watson …."

Sources:
♦ "Boy Loses An Arm." Hobart Gazette 21 Feb. 1902.
♦ "General News Items." Hobart Gazette 7 March 1902.