Testimony of Healing June 4, 1904 Issue

On the night of September 16, 1896, while at work in...

W. S. Jackson

On the night of September 16, 1896, while at work in the lead and zinc mines of this place, another man and myself were being hoisted out of the shaft at midnight. When within twenty feet of the surface, the hoister broke, letting us fall to the bottom, a distance of one hundred and twenty feet, killing my companion instantly. An hour later I was taken out with several ribs broken, jaw broken in two places, a hole clear through my chin into my mouth, and one foot burst open from the ankle bone around under the heel, the bones of which were all shattered. I was carried home, and a doctor called in who pronounced it nothing very serious, sewed up the wound, and left; but in the morning, my wife, the mine superintendent, and myself, not being satisfied with the physician first called, sent for our home physician, also for an eminent doctor in another town, who at once took out the stitches, and did the best they could to clean out the wound. Every day this process of washing out the wound was gone through with, but still it refused to heal beyond a certain point.

Meantime I was in almost constant agony, or in a stupor from opiates. This continued until near the middle of November, when a piece of bone made its appearance in the center of the wound, protruding about a quarter of an inch above the surface. After waiting several days for it to force its way out entirely, the attending physician sent for Doctor Brookes of Carthage, he being considered the very best surgeon in southwest Missouri, to come and remove the offending bone, which he did November 21. But still the wound refused to heal, and grew worse daily. This state of affairs continued until the middle of December, when we again called in Dr. Brookes. This time, with the assistance of our two home doctors, he cut the heel open and removed all the bones of the heel, taking out no less than one hundred pieces by the actual count of Dr. Brookes (my mother still has them), leaving a cavity which required twenty yards of medicated gauze, an inch and a half wide, to pack it and to keep it in something like the natural shape. This packing was taken out and new put in every other day for about fourteen months, the flesh very slowly filling up the cavity.

At all times a very offensive discharge oozed from the wound in spite of the careful washing with warm water and various antiseptics. After four and a half months in bed, I was able to get around the house with the aid of crutches. My heel remaining about the same until the following October, I went to Kansas City to the hospital to have the foot amputated. While there I first heard of Christian Science through a sister-in-law, who told me that I could be healed without undergoing the operation, and that even the bones would grow anew in the heel, by Christian Science treatment. However, I listened as one having ears and hearing not. I came home without having the foot amputated, and shortly after the wound ceased to discharge but failed to heal, leaving a cavity in which I could insert my thumb up to the ankle bone.

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