AN ARMLESS POLITICIAN

Evening Star, Issue 11680, 12 February 1902, Page 4

AN ARMLESS POLITICIAN

Mr W. A. Stevens, a pensioner in the Royal Naval and Greenwich Hospital, is probably the only armless member of a Parish Council to be found in the United Kingdom. The Council to which he belongs is that of Westbourne, in Sussex. A native of Colchester, where he was born over half a century ago, he has since travelled in almost every part of the woild. After entering the navy as a lad, he saw service in the Channel Fleet, in the West Indies, also in the North and South Pauiffc and Mediterranean stations, the vessels in his time being chiefly the old type of masted men-of-war. On board H-M.S. Caledonia at Lisbon in 1871, during the tiring of a royal salute in honor of the then Crown Prince Humbert of Italy, the great misfortune of his life befell Stevens, at that time one of the smartest of seamen gunners. For while placing the charge of powder into the breech of his gun something occurred—Stevens says that to this day he does not know precisely what uaused the accident—which exploded the charge prematurely. He was blown backward*, severely stunned, and, indeed, it » seems a miracle he was not killed outright, for on his being picked up it was seen that" both his arms had been almost completely shattered, and subsequently it transpired that his left eye had also been destroyed. Although at*first his life had been completely despaired of, he recovered after an operation, in which his two arms were amputated close to the shoulders. Though of course heavily handicapped by his terrible calamity, Mr Stevens at once determined to make the best of bis misfortune. Being no longer able to write, he set to work to 'learn to do so by holding a pen between his teeth. He is now able to write in this way fairly fast, in spite of the fact that he is blind in' one eye. Indeed, so great is his aptitude in this as well as in other respects that he has since his accident been made president, secretary, and auditor of several societies. He is also a noted political speaker. "Mr Stevens," the rector of his parish wrote of him not long ago, " has done more for the church and parish since h:' Ins been in Westbourn* lian nine-tenths of my able-bodied parishioners."— ' Daily Mail.'