Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-05-20
GREAT SUFFERING.
Eighteen Years nm InVaIid-The Most
a singular Case on Record.


singular Case on Record.
/ The Troy On. " Times furnishes the
following history of most remarkable
| life:
| Twenty years ago Mr.. Asa w. Worth
was a young and promising merchant of
| Troy. His personal appearance was com
! handing, and he was regarded as one of
] the finest specimens Of manly beauty to be
found in the city. In his family relations
he was most happily blessed. An amiable
and accomplished wife and little babe,
nov grown TO wOmanhood, shed their sweet
Sunshine around his pathway. But, alas,
great sorrow was pending over him.
| Nenralgie pains began to dart through his
| person, aad IN a short time he was taken
down with a confirmed and incurable rhell-
| matism. For some time hopes were enter
tanned that the disease would give way to
medical treatment, but these were finally
abandoned when il was discovered that
anchvlOsis Of all the Joints in the body was
rapidly taking place. The end was soon
reached. Every bone became ossified
and contracted. He was unable 10 move
joint or muscle of the body. Even his
Jaws became SET and for years he sucked
his nourishment through his teeth. His feet
became enlarged 10 an enormous size, and
great fetid ulcers formed upon them. In
this condition he lived for eighteen years,
suffering at times the most excrutiating
torture, though sometimes he was happily
freed from pain. During sixteen years of
his invalidism, Mr.. Worth was attended
solely by his wife-now we are assured an
-, Oh al
earth. That excellent woman nursed and
tended him with accomplishing love and
heroic fortitude-never murmuring at her
lot, but echeerfully, prayerfully, reforming
her mission of love and duty, and
at last absolutely wearing herself out in
the care of her stricken husband. We
doubt if there is on record, in the pages of
history or fiction, another instance of more
wifely devotion, or stronger coniugal fdeli-
ty and love. A little more than a year
ago. we believe, Mrs. Worth died, from dis
ease induced by her long and persistent
care of her husband, and when she died,
though the earth opened to receive her
body, the portals of heaven swung wide
open that her angelic spirit might enter.
Verify, she has her reward.
To add to Mr. Worth's misfortunes, about
six years ago his eyes were attacked by
disease, and gradually he lost sight. Now
began a singular feature in his case. His
strong mental faculties, which had all
through his long years of illness remained
unimpaired, absolutely grew stronger.
His sense of hearing was wonderfully acute.
He recognized abe steps of visitors
with entire exactness, and could distin-
guish between half dozen persons en-
tering the room. He also played chess,
and his memory was 80 perfect that in this
game he was able to vanquish almost any
him daily, and he kept thorough
ly posted upon the current news
and literature of the times. Though
he had not walked the streets of Troy for
years, he knew almost every change that
had taken place in the buildings that line
them. His mental characteristics were al
most as remarkable as his physical misfor-
tune and deformity.
Some months previous to the death of
Mrs. Worth, who only relinquished his
care when disease had fastened upon her
vitals, Mr.. w. was removed to the Troy
hospital. Here we visited him once or
twice, and found him cheerful and quite |
happy. He appeared to be very tenacious
of life-clinging to it with even more de-
sire than most strong and robust men man
ifest. A few months since he was again
removed to the Marshall lnfirmary, where |
he died. Every organ in his body, one
after another, had been attacked, and we
may say destroyed, until only the heart, the
citadel of life, remained unimpaired. This,
too, at last succumbed; and the poor man
who counted bis suferines in duration by
years and in intensity beyond the power Of
language to describe, was released from
the thraldom of the body TO rejoin his
loved partner in the realm of bliss above