Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 June 1901 — WITHOUT HANDS OR FEET. [ARTICLE]

WITHOUT HANDS OR FEET.

Crippled Swede Who Earns His Living in Denver. Somewhere around Denver, Col., Gus Carlson, a man without legs or hands, is earning his own living, says the New York World. Both his legs are amputated above the knees; his hands are only stumps, the fingers and thumbs having been removed. Some time ago Carlson walked out of the hospital to face the world with as light a heart as any man who has two sound legs and two bands to work with. For the last two years he has made his living by selling pencils and notions, and left the hospital, where he had an operation performed on his knee stumps, whistling merrily to take up his former occupation. Although a fragment of a man, Carlson performs feats which make him remarkable. He feeds, dresses and shaves himself and uses his artificial legs so successfully that one can scarcely believe him a cripple at all. Carlson was recently invited' to exhibit his skill before the clinic at the county hospital. ‘ He furnished the students with his autograph, rolled bandages for the surgeons, buttoned and unbuttoned his clothing and did many other amazing acts. One of the most interesting performances of the crippled Carlson is shaving, lie grasps the brush between the stumps of his hands and applies the soap. Then he holds the razor between the stumps and scrapes off his heavy beard. He writes holding the pencil between the stumps of his hands. His writing is legible, plain and rather large, but uniform. The most extraordinary feat which Carlson performs is picking up a pin from a smooth surface. This he does by catching the pin in a crease between the stumps of his thumb and first finger. Carlson was a giant physically. With hie artificial limbs he weighs 165 pounds. Before the amputation of his limbs he measured six feet and weighed 195 pounds. He can still toss an average man about with ease with his powerful arms. He is of cheerful, hopeful disposition, ambitious to make his own way. Carlson was born in Sweden 32 years ago. He came to America in lf>9o, and engaged in lumbering in Wisconsin. Three years ago he was lost in a blizzard and nearly frozen to death, and his legs and hands were amputated.