Litchfield enquirer., 1848-02-03
THE LATE HORACE WELLS.

THE LATE HORACE WELLS.
 The death sf this gentleman has eauSeo . profound and melancholy sensation In '"'' eommuui,y. He was an upright and sstim@' hle man. and had the esteem Of all who kns" him. ofundOubtsd piety, simplicity and gsn- .srOsitv of character, enthusiastic in the Pur- ~ui,, If .cisnce. and having just been acknowA- .ivea Al, the discoversr of ethsriza.iOn n SuF" ~;c.l operations, he was regarded with the highest respect and regard by all our eit'zsn'' and ,hevewas no one who sssuasd less hkeiy .o meet the sad fate that has bsfallsa him
 Tn the letters which were found in his cell he speaks of himself as having formed habit of taking ether for its exhilsrsting effects There is no reason to suppose that he did this deliberately. The probability is that his mind was somewhat unsettled by the frequency with which he inhaled it in trying experiments m order to satisfy himself on the feasibility and propriety of employing tt in surgical opera ticns. Being of aa excitabas temper, fhe et- fleets of this course, added to the agitation which he felt in consequence of the stte@Pt eo gain the credit of his important discovery for rivals. and the intensity with which he watched the proceedings in Paris on thus sub feet, till he was formally acknowledged as the zeal discovsrer, further unbalanced his mild % that he was peculiarly in danger of mis- chief. When in this disturbed state 1t is not to bs wondered at that he betook himself so the inbaling of chloroform. that in the mad ness occasioned by it he should have engaged in the acts for which he was arraigned, or that andsr the pressure of his misery he should have put an end to his own life. He commit cd the fatal act by cutting open hH thigh, completely severing the femoral artery, having first inhaled chleroform to deaden the pain -- Before doing this he wrote the lstters which we copy below, expressive ot his desperate in- tensions and the mental suffering which led to the rash determination.
 By melancholy coincidence, Dr. ). B. Ter ry, his late pal ltnsr, was bersaved of 90" un- der most afilictiag circumstancss on Saturday We are informed that Mrs Wells wrote to her husband to avoid writing to Dr. Terry on business, as he was not in state of mind to receive such correspondence. Little did any thing how grsatan afiiietion awaited her at the very time !-Hartford Daily Courant.
 To the Editor of the Journal of Commerce,
 S1R-1 wish through the medium of your journal to make plain statement respecting the unhappy circumstances ia winch am at present placed My zeal name is now before the public as g miscrsant guilty of a most de spicabIe act, that uf wanionly destroying the property ot those girls ot the town who night ly promenade Broadway. The facts. so far as am concerned are briefly these. On Tu sd-y evening last, . young man with whom l had recently formed an acquaintance, went with me to my office in Chambers street. While there, he said woman Of bad character had spoiled garment for him while walking Tn the street, by throwing something like vitrol upon him, that he knew who it was, ,and would pay her back in the same cola. As had some sulphuric acid in my office, which was using m some chemical experiments, he requested the liberty of taking some of it for this pur- pose. file accordingly cut a grove in the cork ofa vial so that small quantity only might escape when 1t was suddenly thrown forward. He then saidihat he might get it upon his own clothes, Itold hin that I had an old cloak which could no. be much injured by the acid A it sEas saaa aAr4 naiLing. RS his request walked into the street with hirn, he wearing my old cloak and having on my ordinary O. ver-eost We proceeded up Broadway, and
 Ihen aboutoppasits the sheates, he said thai, he saw the girl he was in pursuit of, and he soon gave her shawl sprinkling: we then turned down Broadway, when my friend pro- posed to sprinkle some of the other girls. 1 immediately ob]ected, and told him that wha, he had already done was mol in accordance with my own feelings, although it was done in re- venge and when we arrived at Chambers st |. took my vial and cloak. at the same time two of his friends came up and left him, suppos- ing that had disuaded him from doing the mischief he proposed, which is as foreign to my nature as light s opposed to darkness. l then regretted exceedingly that had counts- nanced in any manner the first act. On get ting home found that my cloak had appa- gently received nearly all of he acid which had escaped from the vial as the wind was blow Sng towards us when the act was done. On meeting with my acquaintance the next day, he said that himself and his two friends @v hem ] met the previous evening had resolved tc oEive all ttne pad girls out of Broadway, by sprinkling them with acid in vain reason- ed with him against committing SO much in- jury where he had not been harmed This was the last interview which had with him 10 ths present time.
 wish now to state as well as am able wfa, induced me to do this act on Friday evening, which confess was done with my own hands, and this was the only one of which am gull ty and which resulted in my arrest. had during the week been in the constant practice ofinhaling chleroform for the exhiaratins ct. fects produced by It, and on Friday evening last lost all consciousness before l removed the inhaler from my mouth How To, z it re- maiaed there do not know but on coming cat of the stuper, was exhila,a ated beyond usasure, exceeding aay thing which had ev- CT before experienced and seeing the vial of acid, which had been used few evenings pre> vions as before described, staadingo on the man sle, in my delirum. seized it and rushed into the street and threw is al two females. Imay have thurst it at others, but I have no recol- lection farther than this The effect of this inhalation continued very much loager than ever before, and did nei entirely pass off until some time after my arrest. do not make this statement expecting tV free myself from all blame m this matter yet have been induc.l