01x07 - Get the Rope

[bunniefuu]

(music playing)

(clock ticking)

(footsteps)

(quiet chatter)

(door creaks)

Pardon the intrusion, gentlemen.

William, good to see you.

What brings you up from Baltimore?

The board at Columbia asked for a consultation on how best to teach surgery to their medical students.

Aha.

We're all the rage these days.

William, let me introduce my apprentice Dr. John Thackery.

Thack, this is Dr. William Halsted.

Pleasure.

Pleasure's all mine.

I had the good fortune of working with your colleague.

Dr. Osler in Philadelphia a few years back.

I know you're doing extraordinary things.

Well, you're in good hands yourself.

J.M. was always a step ahead of me in school, in sport, and with the women.

Well, Dr. Thackery might best the both of us.

In short order, he's proven himself indispensable to the Knick.

High praise from someone notoriously stingy with it.

After what you witness today, you'll be praising this man in the hallways of your hospital for years to come.

Then let me take my seat and let the games begin.

Good luck, gentlemen.

You didn't have to do that.

I meant every word of it.

You're a comet in the sky, young Thack.

Embrace it.

I just feel that the surgery could very well fail.

You've rehearsed it over and over in the pathological lab.

It will succeed brilliantly.

We've got a full theater out there.

Colleagues you've invited with the promise of a great breakthrough today.

A man whose life hangs in the balance.

It could be the biggest finding of my career or an absolute disaster.

You're just nervous.

I am. Aren't you?

I won't be in a moment.

I wonder what Halsted would say if he knew about this.

Who do you think told me about it?

Christiansen: The appendix is a rudimentary, functionless organ.

A relic, really, and yet it still has the power to fell a man in the prime of health and has proven a difficult adversary.

The patient on the table is 25. An attorney.

No history of alcoholism or syphilis.

He was perfectly fit until yesterday when he was struck down with acute abdominal pain.

Then Dr. Thackery quickly deduced appendicitis.

The pain has worsened, the fever risen.

Vomiting began this morning.

We could take the usual course with therapeutics, but we know these yield poor results and most often death.

It is my belief that there is a way to almost guarantee full recovery in all appendicitis cases, and that is the complete removal of the organ.

They're ready.

Let's give 'em a show.

Dr. Thackery will make the first incision.

In countless trials, Dr. Thackery has devised a way in which to accurately determine the location of the appendix, thus eliminating the estimation of where to make the initial incision.

Dr. Thackery.

Surgical Kn*fe.

By drawing a line and divining the midway point between the anterior-superior iliac spine and the umbilicus, parallel to the fibers of the external oblique, no matter what the size or sex of the patient... you will always find the appendix.

And there it is.

The Thackery Point never misses.

Please, Johnny. Johnny, please.

Please, Johnny.

(speaking Mandarin)

Hold his arms and legs.

(gasping)

Get some towels.

You should load up his bowl.

He's gonna need something for the pain.

And, uh... could you... load up a fresh one for me, please?

(barking)

Shh. Shh.

(barking continues)

(sighs)

Late night.

Been watching you for a while from over there.

And I'm thinking you might just be a clergyman's daughter out here on the street like you are.

Pardon me?

I got an offer for you.

Could be good for both of us.

I happen to be acquainted with a Mr. Collier who takes very good care of girls like you.

To have another dark one in his stable might be good for business, so I suppose...

I ain't what you think I am.

Sure. Sure.

But might you be interested in a little proposal?

Make you some good money for what you're doing out here already.

What I'm doing out here is waiting for someone.

Well, maybe I'm that someone.

That someone is my man and I ain't no streetwalker.

You got that?

The hell you think you're doing?

He thinks I'm a street whore.

Hold on.

Tried making me an offer.

Trying to f*ck my girl, is that it, Paddy?

Back off, spooky.

You don't want to start nothing with me.

The hell I don't!

(grunting)

Man: Stop him!

Come on.

(woman screams)

Hey, where you going? Hey, somebody find that n*gg*r!

(crowd shouting)

A doctor!

Somebody run and get the doctor!

Cleary: One of youse call the surgeons.

It's the cop Sears.

He's been cut bad. Stabbed by a dirty co*n in the street.

Come on.

(Sears groaning)

And up. All right.

Cleary: Now come back at me, ya gobdaw, I'll bust you to your knees and make you lick the back of 'em.

Back! Make way, we got real working folk coming through.

What's all this about?

Not a clue.

They're boiling up about something.

Interesting way to start your first day back.

It certainly is. Here, allow me. Come on.

(vacuum humming)

My apologies for my lateness.

I was taking Eleanor to see her parents.

There's no need to explain. It's good to have you back.

So we'll repair the hole and re-inflate the lung once the bleeding has stopped.

He'll have to make do with the other one for now.

Nurse Elkins, forehead, please.

Me as well, Nurse.

Suction.

Tied off the hepatic artery, but the renal is going to require significant repair.

Well, let's do it.

He'll need that blood flow or he's likely to become ischemic.

You say you know him?

Officer Sears. Good man.

Used to go on calls with Speight for the HD.

And he's got a fine crowd outside rooting him on to health.

Never mind who they're rooting against.

You know, when this surgery is through, I will write a love poem to this machine.

Bertie, step aside. I'll do that.

So he's missed the aorta, but hit the liver square.

Took a good slice out of it.

He should already be dead.

What is that?

This, Everett, is the miraculous Edwards suction machine.

I'm building a second one.

For my birthday, I presume.

Hmm.

(people shouting)

There you go, lad. All right.

Whoa, whoa.

Here we go. Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Where's my boy?

Shh, shh.

Where are they keeping him? The butchers.

We're gonna take you to him, Mrs. Sears.

Phinny's a strong boy.

Aye, strong.

Ain't that right, Jenny?

He'll be home bouncing Charlie and Ailish on his knee again in no time.

Part the way.

Let the boy's family through.

Let's go.

Get your arses to the side!

The family is here.

We've done everything we can, but the lung is still a problem.

We'll go back and repair that if he gets stronger.

We've just got to hope he makes it through the next few hours.

I knew Phinny. He's a good man.

You mean you know him.

Don't go digging any graves, Missy.

Of course. If there's anything you need, just ask.

You want to help us, do you?

Then find the devious n*gg*r that done this to our boy and string him up in City Hall Park.

Oh, we'll find him and do just that, Mrs. Sears.

I'm not sure that's helpful right now.

We should be concentrating on the family and praying for Phinny to get well.

You know what? Cut your sh*t spittin'.

He's gonna make it just fine.

Yeah.

Our Phinny's got more pluck in his little finger than all you got in all your sorry souls.

(laughs)

To Phinny!

Aye, to Phinny!

(laughs)

That's the spirit.

Bertie.

I'll be back to finish the chart, Nurse.

Has everyone gone completely mad today?

What do you mean?

First I had to push my way past an angry mob to get into the building, and then I had to push my way past Edwards in the theater.

Ah.

Well, you weren't in yet, so Thackery needed an extra pair of hands.

It's more than that. He was treating him like some old school chum.

And that contraption...

It's ingenious, I know.

No more nights of nursing my sore, tired arms from all that cranking.

All right.

Do you remember when you were... must have been about three or four...

Excuse me.

...and you got your hand stung by a bumblebee?

Do you remember? It swolled up to the size of your head.

(laughs)

Who the hell are you?

I'm the deputy chief of surgery.

Nice to meet you. I'm the Queen of England.

Is he here to finish the job?

Ma'am, ma'am, I assisted in this operation.

What kind of hospital is this?

All right.

Nurse Elkins.

Yes, Doctor?

I'd like to change the dressing on the lower wound, please.

1% acetate of aluminum.

Yes, Doctor.

You really got to take orders from him?

I take my orders from all the doctors here.

The day I let a n*gg*r tell me what to do is the day I dig my grave.

(Sears groaning)

Mrs. Sears: Okay. All right.

All right.

Officers.

(baby crying)

(crowd murmuring)

All right.

The operation's over. They sewed him up.

He's breathing, but that's about all.

It'll be a while before we're tipping pints back with him again, so you might just go on home.

(crowd moaning)

Could be days, lads.

Show's over. Go home.

Man: We're not going anywhere!

(crowd clamoring)

Christ, you'd think the heat would drive 'em back.

To where, the tenements?

(crowd shouting)

(banging)

Open the door!

His pain seems worse, his fever has gone up, and his breathing has become more shallow.

(Sears groaning)

Mrs. Sears: I know. I know.

What are you doing? You can't give him that.

He needs something for the pain. The hell I can't.

(gags)

(gasps)

Oh, in the name of the devil!

Hematemesis.

That ain't English!

Internal bleeding. Something's not holding.

Should I get the theater ready?

No, there's no time. Bring me a surgical Kn*fe, carbolic, clamps, silk. Quickly.

Here you are, Doctor.

(sobbing)

We... we won't be needing them.

Sergeant: Move back, lads. Give her some air.

Off to the side. You've seen enough.

Okay, let's go.

Off to the side.

A little respect here, gentlemen.

Okay, we're gonna take care of that cotton-picker.

Right over here. That's it, right here.

Okay, it's over. It's over.

Mrs. Sears, we're all saying prayers for your boy.

My boy is dead.

(crowd murmuring)

He's dead at the hand of one of them black bastards.

Take down every one of them f*cking darkies.

Rip their throats and grind their eyes down to jelly.

Make 'em pay for what they done to my Phinny!

Over there!

Get 'em!

Make 'em pay! Make 'em pay!

Man: Get the darkie!

Man #2: k*ll that n*gg*r!

(shouting continues)

Thack.

Thack!

What are you doing? Help him!

Stop it. Stop it. Leave him. Leave him!

You're just standing there. Help him, God damn it.

Tell the nurses to lock all the windows and doors.

Edwards: What happened?

We need to get this man to the clinic.

You need to stay out of sight.

(shouting)

(screaming)

(shouting continues outside)

Harry, I got one for you.

Been slashed to ribbons.

Get me silk, two clamps, and a Steinhart's needle.

Can't see. Can you see anything?

No.

Oh, watch yourself!

sh*t!

(groans)

No, stop.

You can't be in here.

Man: We need help.

No, no, no. You need to get out.

Hey, get them out of here.

Back up.

No n*gg*r*s allowed.

You can't be here.

I said get out of here! No n*gg*r*s allowed!

Hey, hey!

Hey, get off!

Edwards!

(people shouting)

My apologies.

We're gonna have to separate the room.

Let's get all the n*gro patients over to this side.

You're letting them stay?

Thack, this isn't a n*gro...

Not the time, Everett.

Reporter: You got something to say to his k*ller?

Mrs. Sears: I got something to say.

Excuse me.

What I got to say you can't print in your paper.

Excuse me. Sorry. Sorry, ma'am.

But I'll say it anyway.

Excuse me.

What is it, lad?

Them f*cking darkies are...

Help me up, lad. Help me up.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

The one who k*lled our Phinny is in the hospital.

Wait, what are you saying?

Them kids saw with their own eyes. He snuck in the back.

And they're treating that murdering Quashee right now.

Get the rope.

(shouting)

The cotton-picker that got Phinny's inside.

sh*t, they got ropes.

Really?

Yeah.

They get in, hit 'em with this.

All right.

Barrow: I can't get away. I'm having a bit of a situation here, but nothing to worry yourself about, dear. All is well.

It's f*cking mayhem out there. They're gonna have the doors open in about 10 seconds.

I just wouldn't come south of 50th Street today.

All right?

I love you, too.

Maybe the police should break up the crowd.

The coppers are the ones f*cking spurring them on.

God damn it!

(shouting)

Heave! Heave!

(creaking)

sh*t.

(shouting)

(shouting)

(glass shattering)

The mob is in the building.

They are destroying this hospital.

Okay, listen, everybody.

We need to get the n*gro patients out of here.

Barrow: You, help me.

Thackery: Okay? Patch up the wounds as best you can.

We're gonna have to treat them someplace else.

Let's take the south stairs through the basement.

Let's go. Quickly.

Man: There's a bunch of darkies in here!

(shouting)

(man grunting)

(horses neighing)

Hey!

(grunts)

Come on!

Those are our f*cking horses!

Whose side are you on?

This isn't a good idea.

Drastic times.

Barrow: Where the hell are we going?

What in God's name is this?

Is this an operating room?

An exam room, lavatory, a postoperative ward, and whatever else I need it to be.

You did this?

Barrow: You can't do this.

Bertie: I think he did.

And you knew?

How else could I have helped him as much as I did?

(loud stomping)

It's only a matter of time till they find us here.

Why? I never found it.

They're obviously looking harder than you did.

Aren't you a laundress?

Down here I am a surgical nurse.

Oh, God help me.

And did you steal all this equipment?

Most of it I bought.

Other items I rescued and repaired.

But not the obstetric equipment.

I stole that.

You delivered babies down here?

Two.

Algie.

(loud crashing)

I want every n*gro out of this building right now.

Mr. Barrow is right, but not for the reasons he believes.

Everyone here who can walk on their own will have to find shelter elsewhere.

But no one is safe out on the street.

Especially them.

I'll take them.

Our Lady of Sorrows has a friary a few blocks down where they'll be safe.

Even hooligans won't riot in a church.

They may leave, but I will not allow you...

Are you volunteering, then?

No.

Then I'll thank you not to interfere.

I'll have one of the other sisters come with me.

Thanks, Harry. Everett, would you go with them?

Yes, Thack.

Your recoveries, can they get on their feet?

Certainly not well enough to run through the streets in a riot.

Then we'll have to transfer them by ambulance to another facility.

Any ideas for a destination?

The closest hospitals are Presbyterian and Bellevue.

Too far.

The Jewish hospital will take them, but that would mean crossing through two Irish and one Italian ghetto.

They belong in a n*gro infirmary.

There's one in Little Africa on Minetta.

How do we get outside without being k*lled by that mob up there?

Take the back stairs to the ambulance bay.

(g*nshots)

Where are the horses?

Cleary: Ask the f*ckers who stole 'em.

What do we do now?

We take them ourselves.

On foot?

Bertie, I need a surgeon to stay here on call until we've returned.

Can you brave it?

Of course.

Dr. Edwards, you can't be seen out there in plain sight.

I know, but I'm not leaving my patients.

Cornelia: We won't have enough of us to transfer all the patients.

Load the gurneys. I'll take the rest.

How?

(grunting, panting)

How are you doing, Mr. Cleland?

The bumps make it hurt.

Hypodermic. Squibb's liquor of opium.

Arm or abdomen?

Arm is fine.

You want me to stop moving?

Not unless you need to.

Thackery: Everyone stay under your wraps.

(men shouting)

Man: And where are you all going?

Thackery: We're heading downtown.

Man: I meant more specific-like.

What you got under there?

Thackery: Just let us pass and you won't have any trouble.

Man: You'll have trouble if I say you do.

Lucy: We're headed to the city morgue.

Man: What for?

Lucy: Leprosy outbreak.

Can't keep them at the Knick. Need to burn the bodies down there before anyone else gets it.

You can look, but about a week from now, you're gonna be down on your knees trying to find where your testicles rolled off to.

Away! Back away, I tell you!

You'll all be damned to hell if you touch one hair on these people's heads!

Gallinger: Keep walking.

You'll all face the fires of hell if I have anything to say about it. And you know I do.

One of them could be the fella that k*lled Phinny Sears!

Hump off! You didn't even know the man.

I think they've finally given up.

I suppose they have.

Probably off to go destroy someone else's place.

Wherever that may be.

As long as it isn't here, I don't give a damn.

Let's finish cleaning up this glass.

And we need inventories on all medicines and equipment.

And patients.

I want all patients accounted for.

Don't put any weight on it.

Just go home and get some rest.

f*ck home. I'm going uptown.

They got all the whores turned out in the street.

Fellas are running trains on them.

Cops are too busy to do anything about it.

Nobody leaves until this place is back the way it was.

(grunting, panting)

(grunting)

Who's in charge here?

Dr. Williams. Over there.

Dr. Williams?

I'm Dr. John Thackery, Chief of Surgery over at the Knick.

This is my assistant chief, Dr. Algernon Edwards.

Algie.

Moses Williams.

You know each other?

We were at Harvard together.

Moses was the one in his year and I was the one in mine.

I'd shake hands, but...

Of course.

We know you're overrun here, but we brought you seven more.

It was too dangerous to keep them at the Knick.

We'll help out in any way we can.

Then pick a patient, get started.

You're welcome to any of our supplies.

Thank you. We're out of just about everything.

Thread, carbolic, clean bandages, alum, cocaine.

We'll make do.

Man: You see anything that way?

(people shouting)

Keep moving, buddy. It's closed.

But, Officer, I'm family.

Of a worker in a whore shop?

For the love of Christ, the whole town's going crazy and you want to get your f*cking log dunked?

No one's going in the establishment till this fracas is over.

I understand, but this is urgent.

Do I look like one of these hooligans tearing the streets apart?

I don't give a good g*dd*mn if you're the second coming.

You're not going in. Now take it on the arches.

Excuse me.

Go on, get! Get!

All right! God damn it!

Get out!

Junia.

(knocks)

I just wanted to make sure you were...

(moaning)

I'm fine, Hermie, but you need to go.

(moans) I'm nearly done if you're next.

(moaning)

You can put it down.

You need a break?

I can have someone else step in to help me finish.

No, I'm fine.

And there are so many more.

Towel.

For you.

Edwards: Jamison.

Who is Jamison?

That's me. I am.

(thunder crashing)

Edwards: What do we have?

Cornelia: Gashed upper thigh and buttocks.

Edwards: Dr. Williams, have a look at this.

He's cut through to the bone.

We'll have to sew it up in layers.

Williams: We have no more anesthetic.

No morphine, no cocaine.

Edwards: We'll just have to hold him down.

Williams: He's gonna thrash.

We will make do.

Edwards.

You don't have to stay with me if this is too offensive for you.

I've seen a buttock before.

A black one?

Yes, yours.

When we'd play in the garden with the water pails and you'd run around without pants.

We were three.

And he saw mine.

For God's sake, Neely.

Suction.

That's enough.

What's next?

"Pass the needles through the intestinal wall one-half inch below and, drawing the threads, invaginate the end of the upper portion into the lower through the slit."

Okay, but this is intraperitoneal.

So what do I do then?

I don't know.

Okay, well, show me the photograph.

So I can see it.

Got it.

Sorry.

Who's next?

This is the last patient.

Then it looks as though our work here is done.

Williams: It would be nice to catch up in quieter circumstances.

Find out how you landed at the Knick with the great John Thackery.

I'd like that.

Take care, Moses.

Thackery: Thank you.

The rain seems to have calmed things a bit.

It may seem quiet, but we have no idea how safe the streets are.

Well, we can load the gurneys in the ambulance, but I ain't got the strength to pull 'em back alone.

So you got to keep pushing.

I'll help you.

I'll come, too.

I want to check on the condition of things.

I'm sure my office is a shambles.

Then I'll see Nurse Elkins gets home safely and I'll meet you there.

What about my bike?

Well, if it hasn't already become a victim of the riot, it certainly won't at this point.

You can get it in the morning.

All right.

(hoofbeats)

Unbelievable.

I thought for certain all this would be destroyed.

They didn't even come down here.

I guess I pushed you across town under a gurney for nothing.

Not for nothing.

(chuckles)

What sex?

What?

The babies you delivered.

Oh.

Um, two girls.

You've become someone I didn't expect.

What, a sneak with a scalpel, plying his trade in dark corners?

No, though that was a surprise.

Then what have I become?

You did something remarkable here.

And to watch you today...

I suppose I still thought of you as that little boy I grew up with.

The one without the pants?

(laughs) The very same one.

I was terrified for you today.

The whole city wanting to hurt you.

And with only you to protect me.

I would have.

I have no doubt.

I doubt I'm allowed much further.

It's all right.

I'm sure the housemother is still asleep and she's practically deaf.

I guess it was a good thing things were happening so fast, 'cause I didn't have any time to think.

Well, you did brilliantly.

Okay, good night, Nurse Elkins.

Really well done today.

My roommate's already gone to work.

You can come in if you'd like.

(music playing)

(matches rattle)

I need help taking this off.

Will it hurt?

I can make it painless and perfect.

(doorknob rattles)

Hi.

What?

What?

(laughs)

(laughs) What?