The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1871-07-22
following incident that .ook place within our own


following incident that look place within our own
observation on these islands.
While my wife and l were living at - with
no neighbors near US, we were interrupted one
day while busy at home by the arrival OF a
mounted messenger. who dashed up i'll hot haste,
and informed us that a Mr.. T., living some few
miles distant, had been injured by the premature
explosion of a blast that he had been tamplng.
Hurriedly collecting a few necessary articles, we
had our horses saddled, and sending the messenger
on for the doctor at K we fastened to where
Mr.. T. was lying. We found him with his right
arm terribly shattered, and his face much dis
fgured-the sight of both eyes being destroyed.
From the time that the accident occurred until we
reached him., he had lain on the spot to which he
had managed TO drag himself before becoming ex-
hausted by pain and loss OF blood, and our first
care, after stopping the effusion of blood as well
as we could, was to have him removed tC a small
house near at hand, where we watched by him
until the doctor arrived. He decided at once that
amputation must be performed, and though Mr.. 7.
was alarmingly weak, still as the weather was hot,
and he seemed to suffer terribly, we administered
chloroform. and removed the mangled limb. The
chloroform did not produce the effect desired, the
patient being sensible to the knife, but it some
what deadened the pain, and after the stump was
properly dressed. and the other injuries attended
TO, the doctor advised that a little more of the
aesthetic be applied occasionally, to keep down the
pain and consciousness of the dreadful loss Of
sight, that depressed the spirits of poor T. more
than the loss of the arm.
Towards evening he seemed to be more at ease,
and as my wife and | watched by him. he spoke:
Are you there. H?" and when / answered, he
said in tones of anguish, III, l must die. / can
not live, crippled and blindI I cannot live,-my
eyes are gone, l am blind. Oh! let me die-let
me die!" In vain we both tried to comfort and
soothe him the idea of lingering on in darkness,
and a cripple, was too terrible. for him to over
come. and he rapidly sank, and before the doctor
could reach him again ne died.
Shortly after. we returned to our home, and after
taking a bath, and changing all our clothing, sat
down to tea with a sister who lived with us.
We had been talking over the occurrence of the
day, and during a pause in the conversation, while
each one was thinking sadly of the sudden fate of
poor T., the strong sweet-smell of choT0fOrrn filed
the room. We looked up in surprise. and my wife
remarked that the clothes We had taken of must
be lying somewhere near us. and the sudden light
breeze that we all felt had carried in the odor of
the chloroform that had been spilled over them.
But our sister assured us that she had given all
the clothes to the w-asherwoman, who had carried
them off to her house some distance up the valley.
Even as we spoke, the scent was gone, being dis
sipated as quickly as it came, and after wondering
at its sudden appearance for a little while, we left
the table, and during the rest of the evening were
engaged in our usual household occupations and
amusements.
After we had retired for the night, and while in
our 6rst deep sleep. we were suddenly startled
broad awake by the sweet penetrating odor of
chlorotorm. that swept by our couch, borne on the
swift wings of a cold breeze, that even as we
shrank from its chilling influence, was gone. Be-
fore we could ummon-resolution shall we say p
to speak to each other, our sister tapped at the
door and inquired if any one was i'll. For" she
said. Il thought you were using chloroform. the
smell of it is so strong in my room" l en-
deavOred to convince her that twas only her i'm
agination, but she insisted upon it that if we had
not been using the bottle. which she knew vas in
our little medicine-chest. then 1t must by some
means have been upset or broken, and the vapor
of Its subtle contents spread through the house.
Throwing on a dressing robe, / went ont into
the hall to the chest and opened it. AS / knew
before, the chloroform-bottle was empty and dry,
l having used the last some weeks previous.
Ny sister still insisted that the Odor was almost
overpowering in her room, and 1 went with her
to satisfy myself. AS we entered the room she
xclaimed-'W Why! it's all goneI"-and there
was no trace of its presence left.
AS we stood and talked and wondered, my wife
rushed in with the cry-"Again! in our room, the
-chloroform ~ and Immediately we were chilled
by the cold unearthly breeze that swept by,
accompanied by that same sweet overpowering
scent. that was gone as quickly as it came. Per-
plexity gave place to anxiety.-and this to a
vague indefinite fear,-and during all that long
night we watched and waited with strained nerves,
for the return of that stra nge unearthly presence,
for so it seemed. as ever and anon it was waited
by us on that chilling breeze. And we could not
but believe that It's poor perturbed ghost wan
dered near us from the spirit world.