Surgery: Helped by a Clean Cut

Convict Robert Pennell, 26, was trimming tree limbs with a North Carolina prison road gang last month when he stumbled over a small hole. Falling forward, he stuck out his left hand to catch himself, just as a fellow prisoner swung a sharp ax. The swipe accidentally chopped off Pennell's hand at the wrist. One prisoner fashioned a tourniquet from a shoestring and a stick to keep him from bleeding to death, while another gingerly picked up the severed hand and wrapped it in a handkerchief. Pennell was rushed to North Carolina Baptist...

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