Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1873-06-18

Inc physician assistant who had charge OF
him. In return for SO much considera-
ton, the hospital authorities looked well
after his comforts, allowed him any guam
tlty OF stimulants, with soups specially
| procured for him. His career at this in
| stitution was at last put an end to by one
of bis previous dupes happening to call
and expose him. It is probable that this
| genius, after very successful run on sew
eral metropolitan boards, is now starring
it in the provinces.
The way in which artists in disease
have occasionally been baked of their
hard-earned success, after they had all but
attained it, must have not a little tantal
| lied them. A seaman of the navy feigned
a chronic decline so we'll that he was on
| the point Of being discharged, when the
| real nature of his disease was very aneX-
pectediv elucidated. The mail from the
| seaporl at which the man was in hospi-
| tai had been robbed, and the letters broken
| open W tn view to search for money.
| The burglars were captured, however, and
! the letters recovered. Among them was
| one from the sick seaman to his wife, in
| which he told her his scheme had sue
| ceeded, that he was to be invaded on
| certain day, and desiring her to make good
| cheer against his arrival. The feelings of
the malingerer may be imagined when
| his own letter was read to him. A
soldier who avowed that he had
lost the power of locomotion was de-
tected by very simple ruse, after other
means had failed The doctor gently tap
| ped at the window Of the room in which
| the paralyzed man was sitting alone after
dark, at the same time softly calling his
name, when he at once appeared at the
| window. GLOW long have you been
dumb, my friend?" said passenger on
| shipbOard once to a pretended mute.
"Three weeks, SIR" replied the incautious
simpleton. An old device of army sur
geons, in suspicious cases Of deafness, was
| to commence conversation in a high
tone and gradually to lower the voice to
an ordinary pitch. A common malingerer
would probably continue to reply to the
questions put, from not observing
the alteration. The most remarkable ex-
ample on record Of success in stimulating
deafdumbness Tor deafness from birth) is
that of a Frenchman, best known under
his assumed name of Victor Foy, at the
beginning Of the present century. This
young man travelled about, ostensibly in
search Of his father, but really, in his
character of deafmute, to escape mill
tary CONSUMPTION. For four years his
extraordinary ingenuity baffled all the
tests to which he was subjected by some
Of the most scientific men in France, Ger
many, Switzerland, Spain, and Italy. In
Switzerland he was tempted to avow the
deceit by young, rich, and beautiful
woman offering him her hand; but even
this bait did not take. In the prison at
Rochelle, the turnkey was ordered to
watch him closely, to sleep with him, and
never to quit him; and even the prisoners
were encouraged to make him betray
himself. To throw him off his guard, he
was often violently awakened out of sleep,
but his fright was expressed only in the
usual plaintive cry of a mute; and it is
said that even in his dreams only cultural
sounds were heard. At last, the Able
Sicard, director of the institution for deaf
mutes at Paris, to whom specimen of his
writing had been transmitted, promptly
pronounced him an impostor, on the
ground that his plumbers in spelling were
phonetic in their characteristics he
wrote, not as he saw, but as he heard. M.
Sicard afterwards subjected him to a per
sonal examination, at the end of which he
was obliged to confess the imposition.
A very simple incident will often suf
fee to throw a good simulator off his
guard. The letter-carrier, on entering q
called out the names of the men for whom
he had letters, and among them that of a
man believed by everybody to be laborine
f under almost total deafness. For one mo
ment he forgot his part, and answered to
his name. Casper, the celebrated German
medical jurist, on one occasion neatly eX
posed a case of counterfeit deafness il
open court. The panel, an old woman
pretended to be deaf as a post "Y gu are
accused" roared Caspar in her ear, "of
severely injuring the woman Lemke" III
is not true.' "But,n roared Caspar again
1.-THE woman Lemke asserts that it is true ,
and then rapidly added in a low tone, "an6
she is certainly not a liar" Her wrath fol-
moment got the better Of her consistency
and she rejoined, to the amusement of the
whole court, eyes, indeed, she IS liar
Possibly the nationality of the hero of the
impulsive imprudence which betrayed
T him. An Irish army recruit who had sud
r denly lost his hearing was sent into hos
pital, and put, by the doctors ORDERS or
spoon-meat. For nine days the lat
/ ter in his visits passed the deaf
> mans bed without seeming to notice
f him; on the tenth day, after examining
the state of his tongue and pulse, he asked
the attendant what kind of food the pa
/, ; tent was getting. On being told he wa
, on spoon-meat, he affected to be very an
cry. care you not ashamed of yourself
said he to the nurse 'The poor fellow il
, almost starved to DEATH Let him at one,
have a beefsteak and pint of porter
"God bless your honor" blurted out the
deaf recruit; you are the best gentleman
I have seen for many day" Under the
influence of strong emotion of any kind
only limited class of malingerers have
, sufficient self-command to play thei
; parts. An amusing example of the way
, in which, in the heat of passion, every
> vestige of pretence is sometimes throw
+ away, is related by surgeon of the navy
= to whose experiences we have alread,
3 been indebted. "A seaman on board
:. frigate, who pretended to be totally blind
and was believed to be so, was on one oc
! casion allowed to 60 on shore with an at
. tendant to lead him. The pair happened
: to quarrel, and come to blows, when tn
. blind man, finding himself suddenly han
: dicapped, instantly regained his sight, AM
! got the letter of his astonished guide
9 The latter took to flight, was pursue'
9 through great part of the town by hi
. | late DrOtepe and finally pOt A. severe druI