THE DUMB SPAKE.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 205, 6 October 1916, Page 4

THE DUMB SPAKE.

A casual observation by a railway passenger was tbe means last week ,of bringing back thepporerw r er of speech to a soldier who, through his experiences at Gallipoli, had been dumb for nearly two years. Corporal R. Morgan, a military policeman, went to Newcastle (N.S.W.) Station (says the Sydney Sun) to arrest a deserter who was on the Brisbane mail train. |While he was walking with his man along the platform he passed a carriage containing several soldiers and civilians, including Private Charles Midson, a strongly built man about 25 years old. Midson was dumb. The sight of the‘military policeman escorting the deserted caused a person in the carriage to remark, “That poor soldier is ended.” At the moment Midson was writing something on a slip of paper. On hearing the remark he thought a man had been killed. The shock caused him to jump round and cry, “Oh!” He coulcF not speak for a while, and was looking out on the platform. When Corporal Morgan returned from the police station, Midson spoke excitedly to him. There w r as a large crowd of people, who thought Midson was crazy, so great was his delight at the return of speech. Midson has just returned from his home in Queensland. He had been in the habit of conversing in writing. The doctors had for a long time been engaged on his case.