The Tiffin weekly tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1859-1868, 1867-03-07
Frghtfal Death Of a prunkard. |.

Alleged Case Of spOntaaeods Combustion.
The indianapolis Journal Of Sat
nrday says: 1.f 90
We are indebted to DR.. NJ. L..
Whiteside, dentist, of this city, for
the particulars of a most singular
and appalling catastrophe that occur.
red yesterday morning in the town Of
Columbus about fSrty miles south Of
this city, on the Madison Railroad.
About 8 o'clock, the attention OF
some citizens on the street was at.
tracted TO the liquor shop of Ger.
man by the name of Andrew Motto,
by slight smoke issuing from it,
He had long been known to be a very
Incorporate man, and recently, il was
supposed in consequence of his wife
leaving him, and applying for di-
vorce on account Of his Drunkenness,
more constantly aud beastly drunk
than usual. On entering, they found
him dead behind his counter, upon
board which was used TO keep his feet
of tho wet floor, with bis head near
whisky barrel. His clothes were still
burning, His lips had been entirely
burned away, leaving ghastly hole,
In which his tongue was seen burned
TO crisp. as was the inside Of his
mouth aud throat. His nose was al
so burned as if BY Gre coming out Of
the nostrils. The remainder of the
body was scorched whore the burning
clothes had touched, but showed no
other indication of FIRE. The hands
we're diawu up to tho mouth, as if to
close it, or shut off some dreaded
thing from it. There was no fire iu
the room, that DR.. Whitesido. could
see, aud certainly none neer the hor.
rible corpse. A revolver wus found
beside il, but all the charges were in
it, aud no marks of injuries, except
from the FIRE, were discovered, so that
the death could not have been caused
by suicide, But if it had been, the
lips burned entirely off, aud the crisp,
ed tongue aud throat would have been
still more inoxplicable, as the ere was
manilestly of very recent occurrence
the clothes still burning---and it
could not have been applied after
death by some other person without
detection or some mark or other that
would indicate where the Ere came
from and how it was used, But il it
could have heen thus applied, it is
impossible to believe il was, for there
could be no motive to burn n dead
man, especially about the mouth aud
nose. The same fact Of the singular
character and locality of the burning,
Involving only the air passages pre-
cludes all idea of death by violence.
No murderer or robber would try to
kill man by setting him on fire, or
il he should, he would not, aud could
not put fire to his mouth and nose
only. No hypothesis of murder
seems to be tenablc, and that of sui
eide is even more absurd. We must
therefore conclude that the death was
caused by spontaneous combustion, or
by the burning of infamable gas
generated in the whisky-rotted car
cass, aud escaping by the lungs and
air passages. This might have been
caused by an attempt to light cigar
with match or fame. There are
several authenticated cases of com
bustion on record, as our physicians
know-Dickens has cited few in
iutifcation of the incident which
forms so frightful a 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 a soldiers
blouse, a flannel under-shirt and a
cotton over-shirt, and that his hair
was not burned. ,..