NEWS: Items from the Morning Tribune, February 6, 1891, Blair County, PA

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Morning Tribune, Altoona, Pa., Friday, February 6, 1891

THE ALTOONA HOSPITAL.

  The report of the president of the corporation of the Altoona 
hospital, which has been printed in full in the Tribune, shows that the 
humane work of the institution has been uninterrupted during the year, 
and that it has ameliorated a large amount of human suffering.  The 
people of Altoona and the region tributary thereto will read with much 
interest President Levan's account of the operations of the year, and 
it is to be hoped a wider and more practical interest and sympathy will 
be created among that large class who have thus far contributed little 
or nothing to the support of the institution.  There is nowhere within 
the bounds of the commonwealth a more useful or a more helpful public 
charity, and of all the numerous cases appealing to the support of the 
benevolent none is more worth than this.  Its history since its doors 
were first opened for the reception of patients is its best 
recommendation to a liberal support.
  Of the 275 patients who were admitted during the year, no less than 
157 were native of Pennsylvania.  Thirty-two others represented sixteen 
different states and there was one from the District of Columbia, 
making 189 native born to 86 foreigners, hailing from fifteen different 
countries.  Of the 275 there were 25 whose religious affiliations could 
not be discovered.  Of the balance, 102 were members of the Roman 
Catholic church and 145 were connected with the various Protestant 
churches.  There were three Jews.  As one of the inmates hailed from 
Jerusalem, we suspect at least one of the unknown was a Mohammedan.  
Practically all races and all religions were represented during the 
year, it being true of this as of most modern charities that no 
distinction was made on account of race or belief.  The doors of the 
institution are ever open for the suffering, and the amount of human 
agony that has been relieved, the number of lives saved, cannot be 
estimated.  In such matters arithmetic plays a subordinate part.
  In addition to the 275 who were admitted to the hospital 626 out-
cases were treated making a total of 901, or almost three for every 
secular day of the year.  It should not be forgotten that the staff of 
hospital physicians cheerfully and promptly gave their services to 
these 901 persons gratuitously.  The labor involved and the time 
employed render the service of these gentlemen one of great magnitude 
and they are entitled to the hearty thanks of the public and the 
lasting gratitude of those to whom they ministered.
  The hospital is an institution of which the people of Blair county 
may well be proud.  Let them, then, continue to give it a generous 
support by means of money and such other timely gifts as will enable it 
to extend its humane work during the coming years.

Local Brevities.

  The union carpenters of this city serve notice in another column that 
on and after May 11 they will demand twenty-five cents an hour; nine 
hours to constitute a day's work.

In Other Counties.

  We are indebted to the Yeagerstown correspondent of the Lewistown 
Democrat and Sentinel for the following item concerning a gentleman who 
is well known in this community: William Creighton, who has been 
confined to his bed all winter as the result of a fall, celebrated his 
88th birthday anniversary last week.  He is our oldest citizen and a 
man of the most sterling honesty and respectability; a man who is 
revered and looked up to by all who know him.  We hope Mr. C. may 
recover and be spared many more years.

A Painful Accident.

  George McCoy, a young man living near Bennington, was the victim of a 
very painful accident, which occurred at half-past 10 o'clock last 
night.  He had been working at his occupation - that of a wood-chopper 
- some place east of Bennington and was riding on a freight.  When it 
reached Bennington he attempted to dismount, but the speed of the train 
was so great that he was thrown to the ground, his left foot going 
under the wheels.  The member was ground to a pulp and only adhered to 
the leg by a few shreds of flesh.  Dr. Troxell, of Bennington, brought 
the injured man to the station in this city this morning, where he was 
met by the ambulance and taken to the hospital, where the mangled foot 
was amputated.  Besides this injury he was badly bruised about the 
body.