SELF-MUTILATION

Hokitika Guardian, 30 October 1928, Page 7

SELF-MUTILATION

SOME AUSTRALIAN EXAMPLES

SYDNEY, Oct. 18. A few days ago a young West Australian, James Jackson, oil being 'bitten on the finger bj[ a snake, blow the top off the poisoned digit with a shot gun, and probably saved his life. However, he was not the first Australian to adopt such drastic measures. An eigliteen-year-old 'boy at Bellerive, near Hooarc, did exactly the same thing nearly three years ago. And at the beginning of the present year a lad out shooting near Launceston, Tasmania, when, bitten on the leg by a snake, shot the bitten portion off hi's calf, and walked- off to the doctor.

In the course of an interesting article ,tho other ,-day a Melbourne paper showed that a remarkable amount of resourcefulness is shown from time to time iby persons who are alone and in a predicament, as is so often the case in the Australian outback. A couple of years ago a teamster in Queensland got his foot caught in a turntable'on his waggon, many mile from civilisation. The waggon was jammed against a tree and the horses could not move it. Faced with slow starvation the man tried to hack off his foot with a pocket knife, while a hundred yards awfty a pack of dingoes sat waiting and howling. The man sawed at the foot but could not get through the hone. He then gave a despairing cry to the horses, which with a mighty effort managed to pull the waggon free of the tree and clear him. And then the horse lie was riding to get assistance fpll on him. Another tough case occurred when, the manager of a station at Oranbrock, Western Australia, received a charge of shot from .a spring gun, which shattered one of his legs below the knee. He dragged himself about 50 yards, then got out his knife, cut off the useless leg (bound up- the wound with wire, and dragged himself another 100 yards. There he was found by his daughter. He told her ,his story and he died the: same night. Hundreds of oases have occurred in which people with broken legs have gone miles for assistance. A bush worker near Doit i go. New South Wales, fell into a quarry, broke one leg, and injured the other. He lay in the quarry all night, but ne-xt morning he dragged himself to the surface and on to the road where he was picked up. Another main who who had his arm tom off in machinery walked 120 yards to the first aid station and--smoked a cigarette while the injury was being dressed-. A timbercutter at Yarram out a six-inch gash in his leg and sewed it up with hair from a bow of a violin. A eouple of years ago, at the Sydney Show, Joe McKenzie, while engaged in a woodphopping contest, sliced off one toe and nearly cut off two other toes. He kept on in spite of the accident and won the event. '