Tom Waits on Intercourse

I was recently exposed to the concert-video Big Time featuring Tom Waits. During the show, he tells a little anecdote that goes something like this:

"Y'know, you hear a lot of questions out on the road, but the one that I get the most is (often enough that I would remark on it)-- "Tom, is it possible to get pregnant without intercourse?" And my answer's always the same; I say, "Well listen, in order to answer this one we're gonna have to go all the way back to the Civil War."

It seems that a stray bullet actually pierced the testicle of a Union solder and then lodged itself in the ovaries of an eighteen-year-old girl who was standing a hundred feet from him at the time. She's alright; the baby's doing fine; she was very happy-- guilt free... Of course, the soldier's a little pissed off.

When you think about it, it is actually a form of intercourse, but not... not for everyone. Those who love action, maybe."

I had heard this story before; it seems to be one of the more popular Legends of the Civil War, and is also generally considered the originator of the phrase "Son of Gun." And it is, in fact, false.

The myth has it's origins in an article published by "Dr.L.G. Capers" in the American Medical Weekly November 7th, 1874 edition. It recounts an incident where a bullet ricochet off a young soldier's tibia and "...passed through the scrotum, carrying away the left testicle."

The bullet continued it flight to the abdomen of a young woman, and the rest is history. The article itself wasn't even meant as a hoax; the editor assumed that a man of any intelligence could tell it was a joke, and added a note to the Weekly a few issues later confirming the story as false. Regardless, over time, the article was quoted as medical fact in several other Journals, and it's legacy remains to this day.

Read the original American Medical Weekly article.

Source: Snopes.com