"LOST LEG AFTER BEING STRUCK BY STREETCAR"

JUDGE TRAVELS 8,000 MILES TO GET ARTIFICIAL LEG

Chattanooga, Tennessee (JFK+50) On December 29, 1924, The Associated Press reports that a representative of the United States on the Cairo International Court has arrived here in Chattanooga after a journey of 8,000 miles "to get an artificial leg."

Judge Pierre Crabites* "lost his right leg (on) June 25 when he was struck by a street car as he was leaving the International Court Building in Cairo, Egypt."

Unable to secure an artificial limb there, the Judge traveled to New York to purchase one.  The AP does not say why he then came here to Chattanooga, but perhaps there is a physician here who will put it on.

*Pierre Crabites (1877-1943) was born in the French Quarter of New Orleans to a wealthy immigrant from France.  PC earned his MA at Tulane University, LLB at Loyola University, LLD at the University of New Orleans & did graduate studies at the University of Paris.  He was appointed to the Mixed Courts of Egypt by President Taft.

SOURCE

"U.S. Agent in Cairo Comes 8,000 Miles For Artificial Limb," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., December 29, 1924, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/ 

 

 

A. Lundberg Artificial Limb Co. Ad

Seattle, Washington (1910)

Washington Libraries Collection

www.picryl.com/

"HE TOOK OFF HIS LEG & STUCK IT IN THE WHEEL"

INDIAN VET MAKES CLAIM FOR LOSS OF HIS "CORK" LEG 

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On September 26, 1923, The Evening Star reports that there is a "new use for artificial legs."  It seems an Indian veteran with an artificial leg had it destroyed in an emergency situation.

The gentlemen was hauling coal up a hill when he had to brake his wagon.  Having no brake, the quick-thinking veteran "took off his (artificial) leg and stuck it in the wheel."

The good news is that the wagon was stopped and a catastrophe averted.  The bad news is that the Indian veteran saw his artificial leg destroyed.

JFK+50 NOTE

According to our sources, "cork legs" was "a widely used & misleading 19th century colloquialism for artificial limbs."  In the 500 years before the 20th century, artificial limbs were made from copper, iron, steel and wood.  Following WWII, a combination of wood & leather was used.

SOURCES

"Artificial Legs," Victorian Review, Project Muse, www.muse.jdu.edu/

"Timeline:  Prosthetic Limbs Through the Years," March 8, 2015, UPMC, www.upmc.com/

"Vet's Cork Leg Beats Natural Kind as Brake," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., September 26, 1923, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/

 

 

T.S. Sandberg 

Artificial Limb Co. Ad

1917

www.wikimedia.org/