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- WILLIAM CURRIE
It is with the deepest regret we state, that the apprehensions entertained for the life of Lieut. WILLIAM CURRIE of the Somerset Police, have been justified by the event. We stated ten days ago that the principal artery of the thigh had been successfully reached by Dr. J. Atherstone, and that it was hoped his life would be spared to his friends and country. The attention of Dr. Atherstone, as also of Dr. Eade, was incessant, stimulated not merely by professional duty, but by the warmest personal regard for the sufferer. It may be said that neither of these gentlemen quitted him, and for the first few days after tying the artery everything appeared most satisfactory. The patient, however, was not so sanguine, and was evidently struggling with the debility induced by confinement and long continued suffering. At length fatal symptoms were indicated. The foot, the extremity of the injured limb, grew cold and torpid, giving unmistakable evidence of the approach of mortification. A consultation was at once held, and the necessity of amputation was agreed on, to which the sufferer consented, with the same manly resignation and fortitude he had displayed throughout. But, sad to say, nature was exhausted, the system was so reduced that the shock could not be withstood: the spark of life was extinguished, and one of the bravest hearts amongst the sons of the British Settlers of Albany ceased to beat. We cannot speak in terms too high of the deceased, and those who knew him well, can best appreciate his sterling qualities as a Patriot, a Colonist, a friend, a brother, a son. To his widowed mother and family his loss is irreparable, while all who knew him will feel that in William Currie the colony has lost one of its most estimable members.
The following professional report of the case from Dr. J. Atherstone, has reached us since writing the foregoing :-
“The operation of securing the Femoral Artery was performed last Thursday night, the 13th, without the loss of a teaspoon of blood. He had a good night, and continued to progress favourably until late on Monday night when the toes of the affected leg, notwithstanding constant applications of warmth, became colder, and restlessness, and some wandering, on awakening from sleep came on during the night. Tuesday, medical treatment ‘appeared’ to check the impending mischief. Wednesday mortification attacked the whole foot, and as a last chance, amputation of the thigh was performed yesterday, with the assistance of Dr. Eade, who has indeed been most unremitting in his attentions to poor Currie. His vital powers had however been too far reduced, and he sunk under the operation.”
Grahamstown Journal 25.1.1853 Extra p1 c1
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