A MIRACLE IF EVER THERE WAS ONE.

Waikato Argus, Volume III, Issue 199, 21 October 1897, Page 4

A MIRACLE IF EVER THERE WAS ONE.

DAVE KIRK, AN EX-MELBOURNE CRACK BICYCLIST. LEAVES THE HOSPITAL TO DIE. SEVEN SPECIALISTS PRONOUNCED HIS CASK INCURABLE. TERRIBLE RESULT OF A FALL AT THE SCOTCH COLLEGE GROUNDS A YEAR AGO. 1 'A R A LYSIS, H E M 0 R R H A G E , SPINAL DISEASE, AND LOCOMOTOR ATAXIA. NINE MONTHS AGONY IN THE MELBOUENE HOSPITAL. NOW A HEALTHY, ACTIVE MAN. THANKS TO DR. WILLIAMS' PINK PILLS. [From '.he Melbourne Advocate]. Davk Kiijk, thf. well known and highlypopular hero of the cycle track, was, on the Sih October of last year, training in the Scotch College Grounds, Melbourne, when, a'l of a sudden, ami without any warning, the tire of the leader broke, and becoming at onec entangled in the wheel, brought the rider to the ground with terrific fjrec. So great was the impact that not a single limb or member of the unfortunate cyclist's frame escaped serious injuiy. In all haste the victim was removed to the Melirurne Hospital, more dead than alive, and quite unconscious from .shock ond hemorrhage. A hasty examination of the patient by the medical .stall" of that institution showed them that the case was a most serious one, and the grave looks of the surgeons in attendance plainly indicated that they entertained but the slightest hopes of the unfortunate young man's recovery. All that the resomces of that fully-plenishe 1 hospital could command were brought into play for the relief of the patient, but the gravest fears were felt as to bis ultimate safety. The external injuries weie not, after all, the mo«s serious—the symptoms of serous internal injury to the nervous system were all too patent to the practised and expert eye of the medical faculty. So serious, indeed, was the case of Dave Kiik considered, that an eminent surgeon who called to see the patient declared it as his opinion that the patient would, in all probability, never rise from his sick bed. There poor Dave lay, betwixt life and death, for about seven weary and exceedingly trying months of pain and suffering, unable to stir hand or foot, unable to move even from side to side—a victim of hemorrhage, spinal disease, pleurisy, dysentery, complete paralysis of the body, ami last, but by no means least, locomotor ataxy, a fearful complaint, which utterly prostrates the human frame and destroys the power of the will ; so much so that the common functions of nature are performed by a power absolutely extraneous to the will. An idta of the dreadful injuries sustained by the patient may be gathered from the following details gleaned from Kirk by our representative. His left heel had to be leuinvcd, and '.VI stitches were inserted in that part of his foot, IS being placed in the right leg. The kneecap was smashed, and had to be lifted. Altogether seven surgeons had to do with the sufferer, who was reduced to a very weak and almost comatose state after nine operations had been performed on him. Mortification set in in parts of the lower limbs, and artificial means had to be employed to draw off" the urine. The system was washed internally four times every day with water ami carbolic acid, the stomach being cleaned out by means of a tube. Injections weie also largely employed. This was a most singular ease, and one which must have all'orded ample play for the physicians' skill and experiment, yet it remained for Dr. \ v illianis' Pink Tills to effect a radical and complete cute. THE BRIGHT SIDE OF THE PICTURE. AN ASTOUNDING CHANGE. After seven months of bed-ridden existence in the Melbourne General Hospital, Dave Kirk left that institution with faint hopes of ever being able t > get about without the aid of crutches, with all hopes vanished as to his abi'ity to again enter the cycle arena and carry off once more those brilliant laurels which were at various big wheel gatherings wont to be his, for he was Victoria's largest scratch crack. In May last Kirk's friends, being impressed by Ill's numerous authentic and spontaneous testimonials from persons of both scxe?, of every age and condition in life, and in all parts of the world, recommended a course of the now world-lamed Dr. Williams' Pink I'ills for Pale Pconlo as a last resource. Marvellous but true, as may be lei'.rned from the paticut's own lips, no sooner had he begun to take these wonderfully curative pills than Kirk experienced palpable relief. To let bim describe himself the returning powers to hl3 limbs and nervous system generally :—" Gradually the sense of numbnees began to disappear, and the extremities acquired by degrees their wonted healthy glow and warmth. While under treatment in the hospital the sense of feeling entirely disappeared, so much so that when the surgeons would put a needle into any part ol my body 1 was absolutely insensible to the fact. To be sure ot the absence of the sense of touch, the doc'ors would conceal my vision, and then question me as to the part they were p : ercing ; but my answers clearly proved to them tint I was absolutely bereft of all sensibility ! "Alter a month's trial of Dr. \\ illiams' I'ink I'ills I was able to throw aside my crutches. But one of the most powerful effects of the pills was the restoration of functional health. Bowel troubles had been a terrible trial to mo ever since the tiny I met with the accident. Regularity in this direction was perfectly set up, and I am now, after four months' taking of these pills, in the enjoyment of perfect health." It wanted no assurance of this, us those who had seen the subject of this narrative arc no! slow to express their surprise at the picture of health and almost completely resuscitated power of body and mini presented in the person of David Kirk. lint perhaps the mo.-t demonstrative proof of the ab olutc numbness and absence of all feeling in the patient while under treatment in tiie hospita l w.is the fact that, although he received a shock from a powerful galvanic battery —a shock so strong that the operator declared it to be half a volt more than he had given to anyone in the institution for 'lO years—Have Kiik was utterly un aide to feel its elect, J A PRACTICAL ILLUXTRA HON OF RESTORED VITALI'IA . A few days ago Dave Kirk, who, by the way, is to be round at his hairdressers' and tobacconists' establishment, -171 Elizabeth-street mirth, caught s of a certain individual to whom he had let out one of his bikes on hire and who, it seems, was possessed i f so bail a memory that he forgot to return the machine to its owner '. As showing the restored strength and vigour of the et.itwhile bed-ridden man, Kirk made a dash for the thief, and a hand-to-hand struggle ensued. His opponent was a powerfully-built fellow, and a much heavier weight than Dave. Blood (lowed freely on both sides, but Dave- proved one too many for his man, and with a dcxtcious effort managed, unassisted, to act him into a cab, ami took him unceremoniously to the lock-ni), where a charge of theft was Did litainsi the prisoner. That was, pel haps, tie' most practical evidence ot lcstinc-d vitality lh.it could well be given on tin pai t t'l lb- cycle cl ainpion. Naturally . noiiyli the thuusiml and one chums of the unce-

thought-dead, but now very much alive, cyclist are loud in their praises of the world-famed Dr. Williams' Pink Pills, and whenever Dave goes out hn is beseiged with congratulations on bis regained health. In common gratitude, the athlete never fails to give the whole credit of his recovery to that wonderful remedy discovered by Dr. Williams. Moreover, Kirk is able to trench a large garden at home, anil walk two miles daily to his business place. The following articles appeared in the Melbourne Argus and Herald last year shortly after Dave Kirk met with his terrible mishap, proving that his condition was considered hopeless : EXTRACT FROM THE MELBOURNE ARGUS. " Everyone has heard of Kirk, the crack racer. About a month ago he met with an accident whilst training, and has been in the Melbourne Hospital ever since. The medical authorities say that he will never ride .-'gain, as his spine has been so badly hurt that he will likely be paralysed for life." EXTRACT FROM THE HERALD. " Dave Kirk, residing at the Codec Palace, Victoria-street, North Melbourne, sustained severe injuries this afternoon through falling from his bicycle while training on the track at the Scotch College ground. The tire of his bicyle burst, anil Kirk was thrown violently to the ground. He was removed in a cab to the Melbourne Hospital." The latter extract appeared in the Herald on the afternoon of the accident, October !)th, 189(5 The former appeared in the Argus about a month later, after the physicians and authorities hid p'aeed him under treatment, ami dis covered that his injuries had resulted in paralysis, spinal tlisease, ami locomotor ataxia, and that he was entirely beyond their aitl. His case was accordingly, by the. physicians who examined him, pronounced incurable, ami they told poor Kirk that he would never rise from his bed again. Dr. Williams' Pink Pills for Pale People have cured paialysTs, locomotor ataxia, rheumatism, and sciatica ; also all diseases arising from impoverishment of the blood, scrofula, rickets, chronic erysipelas, consumption ot the bowe's and lungs, anicmia, pale and sallow complexions, general muscular weakness, loss of apctite, palpitations, pains in the back, nervous headache, early decay, all forms of female weakness, ami hysteria. These pills are a tonic, not a purgative. They are genuine only with the full name, Dr. Williams' Pink Pilis for Pale People, and are sold by chemists ami storekeepers gcncially, or the Dr. Williams'Medicine Co., Wellington, N.Z., will forward, on receipt of stamps or post order, one box for lis., or half-dozen lor 13s !)d.