BULLET IN HEART

Evening Star, Issue 21633, 31 January 1934, Page 9

BULLET IN HEART

BOER WAR VETERAN DEATH AFTER THIRTY YEARS Three remarkable Boer War incidents, two of which were linked together, are recalled by the death in Napier on Sunday last of Mr Andrew Gearheart Petersen, a member of the staff of the Customs Department, states a local correspondent. Mr Petersen earned a measure of distinction by reason of the fact that he lived more than thirty years after receiving a bullet wound in the heart, and being labelled by doctors a doomed man. When the Boer War broke out Mr Petersen was a young man, and lie went to South Africa when only eighteen years of age. He was known as a daring soldier, and it was his disregard for risks that eventuajly found him a prisoner. He won his liberty again in spectacular fashion, involving two outstanding incidents. Working unremittingly for two weeks, he dug a tunnel nearly 200yds long, by which he was able to leave the prison camp. It was a daring undertaking, and more than once before he had finished the tunnel he almost exposed himself to detection. . The second episode followed immediately after he got away from the prison camp As he crawled across the ground in his escape he was shot in the upper and rear part of the thigh. The bullet fortunately inflicted only a flesh wound, and Mr Petersen was able to take to his feet and run, eventually getting clear. His escape was the beginning of a long and painful trek. Trudging day and night lor two weeks he covered nearly 200 miles before he reached the British lines and safety. It was on his return to service that he suffered the wound in his heart. The bullet pierced the pericardium, and the wound so weakened him that he was invalided home, though doctors made no secret of their belief that he would never reach New Zealand. Nevertheless, he was still alive when the transport got to the dominion, and for another thirty years he lived in Napier, spending twenty-two years in the service of the Customs Department.