Coney Island Miracles: Live Infants

The first time I saw the Coney Island attraction billed as "Live Infants", I thought I was seeing things. But it was true. Premature babies in incubators were once a popular attraction of Coney Island, as well as many world expositions including the 1933 World's Fair held in Chicago, Illinois. With mixed emotions, I began my research into how it came to be that people paid hard-earned money to see a human infant.

Luna Park at Coney Island circa 1905. Courtesy of Shorpy.com

The man who created this popular sideshow attraction was Martin Arthur Couney, born in Krotoschin, Germany on the last day of 1869. He studied medicine with a specialty of pediatrics under the hand of Dr. Pierre Budin, a Frenchman who pioneered the use of the incubator for the treatment of premature infants. At that time in the late 1800's, incubators were being used for hatching poultry. Budin had a great idea, but hospitals were skeptical and lacked the vision to use this method of saving premature infants. 

To gain attention for his invention, Budin sent Couney to the 1896 Great Industrial Exposition of Berlin in the hopes that others would see the benefits. 

Baby Incubator Display at The Trans-Mississippi Exposition, 1898. Courtesy of Omahalibrary.org

Six premature babies on loan from Berlin's Charity Hospital, under the auspicies of Empress Augusta Victoria, were kept alive by artificial means, which wowed the crowds who paid money to see the infants. Three years later at the 1899 Greater Britain Exhibition, however, Couney was unable to borrow premature British infants for his exhibit and was forced to bring in three wicker baskets full of infants from Paris. (Courtesy of omahalibrary.org)

Baby Incubator on Display, Seattle World's Fair,
1909. Courtesy of Wikipedia
 

With crowds of amazed people at several world fairs and expositions gawking at the babies living in boxes, there was enough money for Couney to introduce the incubator to American hospitals. But the medical world still wasn't ready to accept the incubators. Parents, however, saw the incubators as a miracle and willingly handed over their preemies into Dr. Couney's care. He had already proved that the public was willing to pay for such an exhibit, and he knew that few parents could afford the medical bills of keeping their babies alive. Such an exhibit would also expose the public to the need for such an invention and perhaps enough people would goad the medical community into providing their own staff with incubators. 

With no shortage of preemies, Dr. Couney and his staff set up the permanent exhibit at Luna Park, Coney Island which you see in the photo at the top of this blog - the one that started me on this quest. And with trained staff ready to care for the babies on the road, and deal with the public, babies in incubators were exhibited in major fairs and expositions around the world until 1941. 

Baby Incubator Exhibit at the 1909 Seattle World's Fair. Courtesy of Wikipedia

But why would people pay to see babies? Consider this... in the early 1900s, most babies were still born at home with the aid of a midwife. If a doctor was available, he or she was only brought in for the difficult births - the ones we now call high risk. Premature babies weren't given much of a chance to survive and many were tucked into shoe boxes and placed on the oven door to keep warm, especially if the mother was fighting for her own survival. At the time, only 25% of premature babies survived. This was the reality of life. 

It didn't matter to the new parents that their baby would be on display in a sterile glass and metal box. What mattered was that their baby survived! 

In August 1901, the Scientific American Volume 85 Number 5 published the article, Baby Incubators at the Pan-American Exposition showing how the babies were fed through their nostrils with a gavage spoon. 

Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY, 1901

Dr. Martin Couney closed his permanent exhibit at Coney Island and retired in 1941. At that time, New York's Cornell University had opened its own research and training center for premature infants. By the time he died in 1950, Couney had saved approx 7,000 of the 8,500 preemies brought to him for nurturing.

And what of the survivors? How did they feel about people paying to see them? That was the question asked of Lucille Horn in the interview, Babies on Display: When A Hospital Couldn't Save Them, A Sideshow Did. Lucille answered: "It's strange, but as long as they saw me and I was alive, it was all right." For the full interview including an audio version, click here. 

Another article with lots of photos is: Survivors Praise 'Incubator Doctor' Who Put Preemies on Display in Early 1900s.


Videos on the sideshow exhibit as well as the survivors are:

'Incubator Babies' Praise Doctor Who Saved Lives  (https://youtu.be/rLBTOlrrubA)

Were Premature Babies Really Displayed in Coney Island? (https://youtu.be/5DzEMRngR1Y)




Also, the History Detectives TV show broadcast an episode called Sideshow Babies (Season 7, Episode 4), where the first segment is about a woman who was born prematurely and within days of her birth, the Chicago Board of Health took her away from her parents and placed her under Couney's care, where she was put in an incubator and displayed at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. She has in her possession a personalized souvenir cup commemorating the event. The history detective's quest is to find out if babies were really on display at this event. 


When I started the research, I was uncomfortable with the thought that anyone would make money off the exhibition of babies in a sideshow. I changed my mind however, when I read that Couney charged money so that the babies could be cared for and their parents didn't have to worry about the expense. To a Canadian, that's a big deal. The fact that all 4 of my babies were premature ranging from 4-8 weeks early helped settle it in my mind. I would have given everything I had if there was a chance to pull them through. I was blessed with doctors and nurses in NICU's that took my hand and pulled all of us through. Back in history, they did what they could as well. 

What about you? What went through your mind as you read this post? 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anita Mae Draper's historical romances are woven under the western skies of the Saskatchewan prairie where her love of research and genealogy yields fascinating truths that layer her stories with rich historical details.  Anita's short story, Here We Come A-Wassailing, was a finalist for the Word Guild's 2015 Word Awards. Her novellas are included in Austen in Austin Volume 1, and The American Heiress Brides Collection. Readers can check out Anita's Pinterest boards for a visual idea of her stories to enrich their reading experience.  Discover more at:

Website - www.anitamaedraper.com

Pinterest - www.pinterest.com/anitamaedraper/

HEALING HANDS, NURSES DURING WORLD WAR II - BOOK GIVE-AWAY

ANNE GREENE here. Women served in other areas than test piloting wounded and repaired planes to be sent back into the war. For an exciting read about such women pilots, the WASPs, order my book, ANGEL WITH STEEL WINGS soon available on Amazon. LEAVE A COMMENT AND GAIN A CHANCE TO WIN A FIRST AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ANGEL WITH STEEL WINGS. 

During WWII, women became nurses to get into the action. The Army and Navy Nurse Corps recruited 74,000 women throughout the war. Where ever men fought the war, nurses ministered. 

Nurses worked close to the front lines. They served under fire in field hospitals and evacuation hospitals, on hospital trains and hospital ships, and as flight nurses on medical transport planes. Their skill contributed to the low mortality rate among American servicemen. Fewer than four percent of soldiers who received medical care in the field died from wounds or disease. 

After the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaiian hospitals were overwhelmed with hundreds of casualties. The blood-spattered entrance stairs led to hallways where wounded men lay on the floor awaiting surgery. Nurses faced shortages of instruments, suture material, and sterile supplies. Doctors performing major surgery passed scissors back and forth from one table to another. Doctors and nurses used cleaning rags as face masks and operated without gloves.

The Japanese attacked US troops stationed in the Philippines on 8 December, where one hundred nurses served. They bombed planes, barracks, and field shops. The hospital escaped damage, but the large number of casualties overwhelmed the small staff. Japanese forces landed on the main island of Luzon and approached the city of Manila. All the nurses stationed outside Manila reached the city except for two nurses stranded at Camp John Hay, who became prisoners of the Japanese.

The Manila nurses evacuated to the island of Corregidor. The Japanese bombed the Hospital at Corregidor, scoring a direct hit on the wards and killing or seriously wounding more than one hundred patients. A nurse remembered the force of the bomb. "The sergeant pulled me under the desk, but the desk was blown into the air, and he and I with it. I heard myself gasping. My eyes were being gouged out of their sockets, my whole body felt swollen and torn apart by the violent pressure. Then I fell back to the floor, and the desk landed on top of me and bounced around. The sergeant knocked it away from me, and gasping for breath, bruised and aching, sick from swallowing the smoke from the explosive, I dragged myself to my feet." An appalling sight met her eyes. Patients blown out of their beds. Bodies and severed limbs hung from tree branches. Although the nurses expected more air attacks, they carried on.

With surrender inevitable, as many nurses as possible evacuated to Australia. Sixty-seven nurses became prisoners of war until U.S. troops liberated them in February 1945.

Sixty nurses attached to the 48th Surgical Hospital climbed over the side of a ship off the coast of North Africa and down an iron ladder into small assault boats. They wore helmets and carried full packs. Only their Red Cross arm bands and lack of weapons distinguished them from fighting troops. They waded ashore on D-day of Operation TORCH with the assault troops and huddled behind a sand dune while enemy snipers took potshots at anything that moved. They moved to an abandoned civilian hospital, where they cared for casualties. There was no electricity or running water, and the only medical supplies available were those the nurses brought. The hospital remained under sporadic sniper fire. Doctors operated under flashlights held by nurses. There were not enough beds, wounded soldiers lay on a concrete floor in pools of blood. The only sedatives available were the ones that the nurses carried with them during the landing.

 

Two hundred nurses lost their lives in service to their country. By war's end, nurses received 1,169 medals and citations. Some received the Purple Heart for outstanding performance. 

When the war ended, nurses returning to civilian life brought home valuable

skills and experiences. The Army had trained them in specialties such as anesthesia and psychiatric care. Nurses had become accustomed to taking the initiative, making quick decisions, and adopting innovative solutions to a broad range of medical-related problems. Society accepted nurses as professional members of the United States health care system. World War II changed American society and redefined the status and opportunities of the professional nurse.

Would you be interested in reading a book about Army Flight Nurses? Leave a comment for a chance to win an autographed copy of ANGEL WITH STEEL WINGS.

ANGEL WITH STEEL WINGS is a World War II romance where Steel Magnolias meet Band of Brothers. While doing her part test flying planes, Mandy McCabe escapes her dead-end life in Hangman’s Hollow, Tennessee as a Woman Air Service Pilot, WASP. Can she escape from her past? Major Harvey Applegate lost his wife to the WASP program, and he’s convinced Yankee Doodle Gals have no place flying in the war effort. He determines to protect the remaining ladies by sending them packing back to the home front. Both Mandy and Harvey experience immediate attraction, which increases Harvey’s desire to send Mandy home to safety. Can a man burdened with memories of death undertake added danger? Will their new love survive the test? One love. Two goals. Someone has to give.

 ANNE GREENE delights in writing about alpha heroes who aren’t afraid to fall on their knees in prayer, and about gutsy heroines. She writes both historical and suspense novels. She and her hero husband, Army Special Forces Colonel Larry Greene, have visited twenty-five countries.  A visit to Scotland resulted in her award-winning Scottish historicals, Masquerade Marriage and Marriage By Arrangement. Moody Press published her first book, Trail of Tears, an American historical. A Texas Christmas Mystery also won awards. Elk Lake Publishing contracted two series. Her Women of Courage Series spotlights heroic women of World War II. The first book, Angel With Steel Wings, releases May 2015. The second series, Holly Garden, PI, has the first book, Holly Garden, PI, Red Is For Rookie, releasing June 2015. Anne makes her home in McKinney, Texas. Two of her four children live nearby. Her highest hope is that her stories transport the reader to an awesome new world and touch hearts to seek a deeper spiritual relationship with the Lord Jesus. To learn more of Anne, visit her at http://www.AnneGreeneAuthor.com.  She writes a novel teaching class on her blog www.anneswritingupdates.blogspot.com