By Louie Graves
News-Leader staff
His book manuscript sat on a shelf in his house for several years because of complications with publishers, but finally, First Do No Harm is in print and available to persons who want to know more about Dr. Sam Peebles’ horrifying six-hour ordeal with an Oklahoma murderer.
The book was printed in limited quantities and is available at Amazon.com. It is also available at Pink Avenue, the shop in the lobby of Howard Memorial Hospital where Dr. Peebles is an emergency room physician. Dr. Peebles will sign copies of the book on Wednesday, Oct. 16, from 9-11:00 a.m. in the hospital lobby. A percentage of the sales there will go to Pink Avenue as a fund-raiser for the pink ladies hospital volunteers.
The book is a story within a story within a story, beginning with his formation as a Christian youngster in Saratoga, through the kidnapping in November of 2003; then the trial of the man who threatened to kill Dr. Peebles and his wife, Suzanne; and the physician’s own deep reflections upon the event and persons associated with it.
Without giving away the whole story, the Peebleses were returning home from a family funeral in northwest Arkansas when they stopped to give aid to a man apparently stranded on the side of the highway in cold, misty winter weather. The man turned out to be a murderer and the object of an intense manhunt in Oklahoma. At gunpoint he forced the couple to drive him to Texas and, when Dr. Peebles became convinced the man was going to kill them, the physician grabbed his own firearm and shot the kidnapper.
Somehow people in this area became aware of what was happening while it was going on, and without knowing it the Peebles had a virtual army of friends and strangers praying for their safe release. That’s all a part of the book.
The book also deals with returning to testify at the murder trial in Oklahoma, and how the whole experience still shakes the physician today.
According to Dr. Peebles, the villain is still alive on Death Row in Oklahoma.
Dr. Peebles says that he had a reason for wanting the book to be published. He’ll be glad to tell you at the book signing.
