THE CASE OF GEORGE HEIDELBERG.

Cromwell Argus, Volume III, Issue 141, 23 July 1872, Page 5

THE CASE OF GEORGE HEIDELBERG.

To the Editor of the Cromwell Argus. Sir.—Perhaps you will kindly allow me space to call public attention to the case of the poor fellow, George Heidelberg, who died miserably on the day of his admission to the Dunstan Hospital. It will be in the recollection of your readers that the unfortunate man was taken suddenly ill while staying at Oarrickton, whence he was brought on to Cromwell in one of our local g ocers’ conveyances ; and it is believed that on the road down he ruptured a blood-vessel. Mr James Taylor, our worthy Mayor, took him in for the night; and in the morning he was sent on to Clyde, to the Dunstan Hospital, in a spring-cart, in the charge of a mere boy. A very short time after he arrived at the Hospital, the poor fellow breathed his last,—having lost, I am told, such a quantity of blood during his rough, jolting journey as to render his recovery impossible. Now, Sir, it seems to me to me that Cromwell’s much-vaunted public charity was not displayed to any great degree on this occasion ; or at any rate, if public charity was not in fault, that something or somebody wms greatly to blame in this matter, A medical man attended the poor fellow on the night previous to his removal, and he surely ought to have known whether the man was ab’e to stand being trotted off to Clyde so soon. And it seemed as if everything was in league against the saving of the life of poor I Heidelberg ; for I am told that when he reached 1 the Dunstan Hospital, no surgeon was in attendance, and that be died without being seen by one. The man was a pour, fiiendless miner, and a foreigner to boot ; but it says very little for the spirit of charity in our midst, that something was not done to keep him in Cromwell unt’T his removal was reasonably safe. Doubtless, if he had been possessed of a little more money, and had been of a higher standing in | soc’ety, a different tale would be to tell, —a tale jof how the public of Ciomwell subscribed so wil- , hnglv in his cause, and possibly a tale of how h ; s life was saved. I may be WTong in all this ; and perhaps nobody was to blame, and everybody did everything that could be expected ; but, at any rate, I think it would be weU that some explanation should be given of how it was that this poor fellow 7 , with a broken bloodvessel, was packed off to the Dunstan to Meed to death on the road.—l am, &c., Nemo. Crornwe l !, July 20, 1872.