STRANGE BUT TRUE. [English Magazine.)

Waikato Times, Volume XX, Issue 1704, 7 June 1883, Page 2

STRANGE BUT TRUE. [English Magazine.)

Iv a very cntet taming work entitled "Random Shots by a Rifleman," wiittcu by late Captaiu Kinoaid, of the old !)sth legunent— then the Rifle Biigade — thcic is a stoiy told wliieh at my first petusal appeared to possess many of the qualities contained in thosj amusing fictions nanated by Baron Munohauson, Later, however, on becoming better acquainted with the author, I felt convinced he had been detailing facts ; and of this I received unexpected pi oof in after-life. I regie t 1 have not Captain Kincaid's work at hand ; hut, to the best of my lecollection, the author's stoiy lan somewhat as follows. In one of the many actions in which our tioops weie engaged under Wellington dining the Peninsular war, an otlicer had one of the laigc muscles of his neck which snppoit the head scveied by a Ftenchniun's bullet. The wound soon heali'jl, and the injuicd officer suflcrcd from it little inconvenience beyond that of having to catty his head wither dioop uvj, to the one side. At the battle of Waterloo this offieci was also piesent, and was again wounded m the neck by a bullet, which, s twinge to say, cut through the opposite muscle of tlie nock suppoiting hih head ; and thus the second lectified the mischief done by the iirst bullet ; and, as a mattei of fact, the officet's head was .set stiaight upon his shouldeis. "When wiitingthe above stoiy, Captain Kineanl was uppaiently fully aw aie ot its nnpiobabk* n.ituic ; and in justice to himself, adds : " I would not have daied to icpeat this stoiy, weie not the wounded officer alive at the time of my wilting, andiealy to conoboiate the same." Captain Kincaid thai pioceeds to yivc the oiheer's name, together with thai of his icsidcncc ; both ot which I at piesent foiuct, but which aic t> be found in " Random Shot*. ' I may hero say that I was not in the habit ot 1 (-pouting the above story; for although I felt pei fict faith in Captain Kincaid's veiaoity, i could not but icat there might be those who would doubt my own It happened, however, in tin year 1847 that I, when quaitcied at •Sheffield, attended a >eoimniy dinner, dmmg the cjuisc of w Inch the conveisatiou tinned upon the subject of icmaik able v\ounds ; and on this occasion I was templed to add Captain Kincaid's story t) otheis almost equally startling. As I had expected. I noticed that the stoiy was lccen'cd with inciedulous smiles, the fuithcr dc\ elopement of which politeness alone pi evented. I could not iollow Captain Kincaid's example, and give the name of the wounded officer, nor the place of his residence ; I had foi gotten both ; and I felt :n>self lapully Milking m the esteem of the company, when, to my suij'i'iso and delight, one of the yeomaniy olliceis piesent— a gentleman almost a poifeit stranger to me, but well known to the rest of the company—remaikoil in a distinct voice acioss tin table : " You have told that story v i-i \ well sir. '''heie is, howevoi one tact ot importance you have omitted to mention, namely, that in consequence of both the muscles of the neck having been m jui od, the head of the gentleman, al though stwiight, has \eiy much sunk on his shoulders. Ho is afi lend ot mine, and well-known to othcis in the nughbouihood, and at piesent lesidcs v\ ltlnn ten miles of this tow n. The yeoinani y officei then repeated the name and residence oi the wounded ofheer, thus corroborating Captain Kincaid. The second story I wish to i elate is as follows: — On hi s>t joining my regiment in the Bombay Piesidency, I was, liUe most young men, very desnous of an oppoitunity of hunting laige game ; and in order that I might nob hcluno myself like a thoiough "giifP'on my first inter view with the denizens of the Indian jungles, I pioceedcd to study all vvoik"tieating or. the subject of shikaar which camo in my way. Amongst othcis, Ibe came much inteiested in a book wiittcn by Major Foibes, then of the 78th iliglilandeis, and which wns styled "Ten Ycaift' lesidence in Ceylon." At the time to which I lefcr, my legiment was bngadcd with the Ross-slnic Jiulls, and 1 was not un frequently bioughtinto con tact with Major Forbes both at the mes^ table and on duty. I soon learned to esteem this officer both as an excellent soldier and as a fine specimen of the Scottish gentleman, one who under no ciiyumstances would wilfully utter oi piopagatc an nntmth. In the book above lefeued to. Major Forbes gives a pleasantly vvntten deociiption of many paits of the island of Ceylon, interlaided occasionally with inteiesting anecdote? connected w ith the put suit ot laiye game. Amongst otln-rs, the author details one which, had I not been personally acquainted with Major Forbes, I should in all probability have soon forgotten, or remembered only as one of those fictions so frequently nanated in older to inipait a lacmess to an otheiwise dull book. The »story as given by Major Foibes ran, to the best of my lecollection, much as follows. An officer belonging to one of the legnnents and stationed in Ceylon, had with him, when on an exclusion hunting wild elephants, an old-fashioned single- barrelled gun of the pattern in vogue befoie the introduction of the I patent breech. To this old fashioned 1 fowling-piece, there was no breech block, but the near part of the ban el was secured by a tongue of iron, which overlapped, and which was screwed in to the upper face of the stock. On the present occasion, this old-fashioned weapon, on being fired, buist, and a large portion of iron w hich formed the breech, togethei with the tongue and sprcw which connected the barrel to the stook, was forcibly driven into his head. Major Forbes adds that this officer, badly wounded as he was, survived ten yeais, and lived with this lump of iron in his head without sutteiing seiious inconvenience ; and that he afterw ards died from tho effects oi fever. Thus far fiom Major Foibcs' book. In the year 1849 it happened that in company with a brother officer, and under the guidance of one of the senior medical officeis at Fort Pitt, I was inspecting the Museum connected with that hospital. Suddenly my eyes lighted on an object of which I had not been thinking for many years, but which I at once recognised as the breech of the old gun so accurately described by the author of "Ten Years' Residence in Ceylon." In order that there might b,e no"mistake, I enquired of the doctor whether he could tell me what the object was. and further whether he knew anything of the history connected with it. "That," said he, " is the model of the breech of a gun, the original of which was cut out from the head of a deceased officer in Ceylon, after it had been imbedded in it during ten years of his life.' 1 y Here was corroboration of one of Major Forbes stories. A few years later, I happened to be strolling ou .the parade ground at Lahore, atid in company with, the 'of the 96th Regiment I was conveising on the subject of the wonderful t recoveiy m^de from gunshot and oiher wounds." JRe-i .^9ftsnA£ %t -«}£, cjjmpwuQA, had

served for a considerable time in Ceylon, I enquiied whether he had ever heard of the extraordinary case mentioned by Major Forbes, of an officer living fof ten years with the btcech a gun lodged' in his bead. To my astonishment, he replied : " Not only have I heard of the case, bat I was, moteover, at the time very much concerned with it. I happened to be," he continued, " in the immediate neighbourhood when the occurrence took place ; and the wounded man was In ought to me first for medical advice and ticatmcnt. lat once recommended that the block of hon should be cut out ; but as at that time I was a j oung assist-ant-surgeon, the officer hesitated to accept my advice, and requested he might be taken in to the nearest station, there to sec and consult w ith the surgeon of his own regiment. This surgeon was rather behind the a<i p in the science of operations, and pronounced it as his opinion that thojo was lets danger to be appichended in permitting the iron to remain in the wounded man's head than in the making any attempt to extiact it." My fiicnd, the sin goon of the 96th, went on to say : "'I remained in Ceylon for many yea is after this accident, and I may say watched the result. The wounded officer continued to enjoy very fair health, and to peiform duty with his regiment for upwatds of ten years. " His death occmicd in the following manner. An officer belonging to the same legiment was about to proceed to Kngl.md on in fact snffciing fiom a disease of the lungs. On the eve of the day of his depaiture this officer found himself at a late hour .it the mess table in company with the man who had survi\ort so many years the accident occasioned by the bursting of his gun. These two were the only occupants of the mess table, and had, there is little doubt, imbibed more wine than was good for them. Somehow, in drinking parting bumpers, they lapsed ftoin the maudlin into the quairehome state, and began the one to twit the other with his infiiunties. At last he of the weak lung<j being stung by some remark from his companion u'gai ding the delicacy of Ins chest, backed himself to shout the louder and longer of tic two. This challenge was accepted. The contest had, however, not long continued, when with a hand pressed to his temples, the man with the wound in his head to&e up from the table and staggered oft" to his quaiters. That night he became very ill ; and in thice da><s the man who had foi the last ten ycais of his life curie 1 a lump ot iion in his head with impiH^L^^ succumbed to an attack ofbiain feve^^* After death, his head was opened ;and it was then di'eovcied that this lump of iion had been slowly but surely working it way towards the biain, fiom which it had latteily only been separated by a thin skin of membrane. In an insane uxeition to compete in noise with his weak chested companion on the night mentioned, lie had i upturn! this membrane. Tlio iron coming into contact and pressing upon the brain, had produced biain fever, fiom which the unfortunate man died within tlrn-e days.' 1 lleie my fiiend concluded his narrative and completed a full corrobation of Major Foibjs' stoiy.

A cvkk'At. bachelor suggests that many of tl o gills of the period are less fact than figlUcS Ix Ihe huge mantle-shop they now" t'liiploy \oiwy lady mr> lehs. Mrs Giundy tiusUthat they also employ model young ladies. It is a mistake to think tli.it severe exnotaiue mikes animals li.iuly ; they are tar bettci off under cover during stoims. As a souvenir of the visit of the Hon. Ivo Bligh'b KnglMi team of crieketeia, the Melbourne Cucket Club pi evented i handsome gold looket each to the piofessionals. Mr F. G. Smith, who piesrded at the dinnci to their English M-sitois, alluded to the faultless beli.u iour and excellent ciicket of the professionals, as well as the thoroughly manly and pioper conduct which they had cxh bitetl since their m rival in Austialid. Bat low in letuining thanks of his (o)iJ'kic),, was warmly leoened. He thanked them for the kind little picscnt they had eacli 1 ectiv ed, and v\ hen they went home, would always think of the pleasant evening they had spent. He was sure the tup had been an enjoyable one, and they would ne.vcr forget it On the ciieket field they had done their best. They had lost a few matches, but it had not been then fault. The following piece of singular infoi mation in connection with the annexation of Now Guinea appeal s in the Brisbane Coulter; — "Information has been leceived, we understand, fiom pi hate sources that Mr Romilly, Deputy Commissioner under the Pacific Islanders Act, left London in Mai eh by the Caithage, being encrusted with a commission to piocced by a man-of-war from Sydney and annex New Guinea. Mr Romilly was natmally rather surprised when he discovcied that his mission had been anticipated by the action taken by Sir Thomas Mt-Ilvvraith, and he now expects to leceive ticbh telegraphic instructions in Sydney. If this information is correct, then the Colonial Oihce and Sir Thomas \Jellvviaith must evidentty have both btcn inspiied about the same time by the happy thought of annexation, and yet it is scaiccly possible to conceive that Mr Romilly was in possession of the definite instiuctions attubuted to him when we bear in mind how Lord Deiby expressed inch unequivocal sin pi isc at the action of the Queensland authorities, who, as lie stated, had m no way been piompted to act as they had done. Theie must ->urely have been some subtle affinity between Mr Romdly's instiuctions and Sir Thomas Mcll wraith's action. The mystery, we suppose, will some day be solved when the blue books are published. The annexation of New Guinea must have been in the air. How else is it possible to account for the fact that the Colonial Oihee had evidently thought of annexing New Guinea, and had despatched Mr Romilly with a commission in hi-, pocket to carry it into eflect, befoie Sir Thomas Mcllwiaith had even pioposed it? And yet our Premier not only pioposed, but, having no answer, went and catiied off the prize. This annexation of New Guinea will evidently turn out to be one of the most interesting little episodes of Australian histor}'."

The Albany Law Journal discupses pleasantly the alarm felt by some Welldisposed people on account of the presence in the countiy of so large a number of lawyers a& the Census shows to be dwelling in the United States. This alarm, the Law Journal says, is wholly unnecessary. It asserts that, on the whole, the lawyers &eem to get along pretty well, being as a class neither richer n<?r poorer than their fellows of other occupa^^^^ Theie is some truth in the Albany pTjps declaration that it is no moie dangerous to have 00.000 lawyers than it is to have 85,000 doctors and 44,851 barbers to practice upon the lives and throats of the community ; and almost nil reflecting people will heartily concur in the statement the 285,000 journalists and the 19,000 plun bjrs make more raihchief than the 65. 0C0 lawyers. The learned and witty editor of the Law Journal ought to know wheicof he speakH, s>ince he is both lawyer md journalist, and, in common with most of his suffering fellows, he has learned to know thp plumber too well, l^p hope that it \s no private grief that promps our contemporary to ascribe to that the*2Bs,ooo milliners dressmakers and seamstresses the production of more mischief than is brought about the lawyers. There is much weight in the suggestion made by tbeeditorof the Law Journal 'that it is not the lawyers that make the litigation but the litigation that makes the lawyers. Those who set themselves up as critics of the much-abused legal profession, especially as regards the admittedly full supply of its members, occupy the posi^ tion of railing at one of the mo&t striking pymptojin of the varied and Cum pie* activity which warks our modern spcial deyqlope'ment. Better , have, law, eyea ,witb> layers, than, an absence oj the kyr without tfogm,,. - , ,