Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 July 1903 — A NERVY OLD SOLDIER. [ARTICLE]

A NERVY OLD SOLDIER.

Without a Groan He Watched tha Surgeons Cut Hi* Leg Off Twice.

When Henry C. Nichols, of Jersey City, died the other day there passed a man of the stuff heroes are made of. With the same courage and coolness he displayed facing death at Antietam and in the battle of the Wilderness, he watched the work of the surgeons while they cut off his leg in two operations, in Christ Hospital, and then faced the inevitable end and died with a smile on his face. Nichols was 57 years old. lie had a weak heart, following an operation for appendicitis about a year ago. Wounda received in the war brought on necrosis of the bones of the leg and the formation of a clot in an artery. This was followed by gangrene, and the only hope for life was the amputation of the limb. He could not stand an anaesthetic, and the doctors told him that his only chance was to have his leg cut off while he was conscious. He told him to go ahead, and after the first amputation had been made the condition as disclosed made a second operation necessary, and they cut into flesh and bone again while the old soldier,' perfectly conscious, looked on at the grinding of the surgical saw and the keen-bladed knives. For a week it seemed a* If he would lire, but with the beginning of the ninth day his vitality began to wane and it was manifest he could not survive. On the morning of Memorial Day he Insisted upon being removed from the hospital to his home, and to be carried through the streets, where he knew his comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic were marching. Hie request was complied with. The veteran waved his hand feebly to the thinned-oat ranks as he passed them by, but he never betrayed by any sign that he suffered. After the parade he was taken in and put to bed, but it was plain he could not last * - •,, - - B 4 Thornton, a 12-year-old boy, was drowned at Columbia, Mo.