The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1867-04-18
peath by spontansous Combus.


Some weeks since we published a
brief statement in regard to the death
Of drunkard in Indiana, as it was al
legged, from spontaneous combustion
The indianapolis journal publishes the
following particulars Of the case:
"We are indebted to DIR. M. j..
Whiteside, dentist, of this city, for the
PARTICULARS of most singular and APP
palling catastrophe that occurred yes
terday morning in the town Of Colum-
bus, about forty miles south Of this city,
on the Madison railroad. About eight
o'clock the attention Of some citizens on
the street was attracted to the liquor
shop of German named of Andrew
Nolte, by a slight smoke issuing from
it. He had long been known to be q
very intemperate man, and recently, III
consequence of his wife leaving him,
and applying for a divorce on account
Of his confirmed drunkenness, more
constantly and beastly drunk than usual.
On entering, they found him lying dead
behind his counter, upon a board used
to keep his feet off the wet floor, with
his head near a whisky barrel. His
clothes were still burning. His lips had
been entirely burned away, leaving
ghasily hole, in which his tongue was
seen burned to crisp, as was the in
side OF his mouth and throat. His nose,
also, was burned, as if by fire coming
out of the nostrils The remainder Of
the body was scorched where the burn
ing clothes had touched, but showed no
other indication of fire. The hands were
drawn up to the mouth, as if to close it,
or shut off some dreaded thing from it.
There was no fire in the room, that DR..
Whiteside could see, and certainly none
near the horrible corpse. A revolver
was found beside it, but all the charges
were in it, and no marks Of injuries, ex-
cept from the fire, were discovered, so
that the death could not have been
caused by suicide. But il it had been,
the lips burned entirely of, aud the
crisped tongue, throat aud nose, would
have been still more inexplicable, as the
fire was manifestly of very recent oc-
Ourrence, - the clothes still burning
and it could not have been applied after
death by some other person without de-
lection, or some mark or other that
would indicate where the fire came from
and how it was used But if it could
have been thus applied, it is impossible
toTbelieve that it was, for there could be
no motiye to burn dead man, especial
ly about the mouth and nose The
same fact of the singular character and
locality of the burning, involving only
the air passages, preclndes all idea Of
death by violence. No murderer or
robber would try to kill a man by set
ting him on fire, or if he should, he
would not and could not, put fire to
his mouth and nose only. No hypoth-
esis oil murder seems TO be tenable, and
that Of suicide is even more absurd. We
must, therefore, conclude that the death
was caused by spontaneous combustion, or
by the burning of inhamable gasses.
generated in the whisky-rotted carcass,
and escaping by the lungs and air pas
sages This might have been caused
by an attempt to light cigar with a
match or other fame.
"There are several authenticated cas-
es sof spontaneous combustion on record,
as our physicians know, Dickens has
cited a few in justification of the incident
which forms so frightfal scene of his
Bleak House - but we question if a
more clearly marked case than this at
Columbus has ever occurred, We may
note that he had on q soldiers blouse,
afannel undershirt, and a cotton over
shirt, and his hair was not burned"