Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1867-10-09
reelipgs Of a yellow Fever Patient.

The New Orleans Bulletin says the
following was written by yellow fever
patient on the fifth day after being taken
sick. The labor Of writing it caused
relapse, which came very near costing
his life
The writer OF this has had glimpse
of purgatory, and the way II came to
pass was this Tuesday morning, Iel-
low Jack, so called, introduced himself
unceremoniously and at once proceeded
to break every bone in this poor subjects
body. He was left helpless and pros
trated. Now appeared an army OF little
devils, who commenced prowllng, prod
ding and digging to satisfy themselves
that not bone was left unbroken. But
in spite Of all the devils, the skull re-
mained unbroken. They made detail
to keep continually beating the subject
on the top of the head aud downward
toward the neck. Then they had kind
of Greek fire, which, at regular Inter
walls, they poured down the spine Of the
subject
Having arranged all these prelimina'
ries, they OF course thought they had him
dead. Now they commenced curious
game all would whirl around, then stop
all of sudden and play with some
strange devices, that were not cards or
dice, yet some of the sort The subject
watched this game with intense interest,
SO much so that he almost forgot his
broken bones and unhinged joints. Thus,
his mind and his spirits and the game
went spinning along together till about
dark, when a servant entered and as ked
if the subject was sick. He rather
thought he was
A delegation of neighbors now crowded
around the bed TO learn how the sick man
felt. He endeavored to briefly convey
some idea of his feelings. One of those
present asked if he would take prepara.
ton to check the fever. He answered he
might, provided it was neither calomel
nor quinine No, it was homeopathic
remedy. Well, the subject had no
objection. Soon after physician made
his appearance, looked rather serious,
gave his instructions, and told the subject
to quench his thirst with almost any
decent drink. Now he happened to be
always thirsty, tried citrate of magnesa
for awhile but soon grew disgusted with
it, then tried lemonade, but with no
better success The novel idea struck
him to try pure cold water, and it turned
out to be exactly the thing.
The physician continued his visits, and
would announce from day to day, with
curious air. that the patient was better.
In the meantime, when not interrupted
the subject and the spirits and the Curl
GUS game played by the latter, went
swimming along together as much so as
on the first day, but gradually the host
grew smaller; some of the spirits seemed
to have urgent business elsewhere, others
Jagged, and all that ran around grew
more and more careless. But just in
exact proportion, the subject grew mere
and more powerful weak" Thursday
morning he was slLpewerfally; weak;
the spirits had all left but two, one rested
on each eyelid With kick and snort
the subject flung back the bed cover,
landed on the floor, and said, 81 amt
dead yet.
With the assistance of nurse, of
whose existence the subject now became
aware, he found his way back to bed
again Friday morning he found him
self so powerfully weak that he did not
feel able to raise finger. The doctor
came and looked rather more pleasant
than usual; said that everybody had
expected the subject to die, but, CON
tinued he, you are not going to die;
you'll be out in few days"
A brilliant idea struck the subject, and
summoning all his strength, he raised
himself on his launches, and told the
doctor he would like to have something
TO eat. The doctor suggested that the
subject might drink cup of coffee with
boiled milk. Would duck swim? The
coffee was we'll made and drank, and
the patient gained strength enough to
attempt to write this, which he managed
to do by eight hours hard work, lying
on his back, and holding his pencil in
one hand and his paper in the other.
And the patient still lives. f.tw -nr