Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1873-11-05

TUse, Hitcr otHer Iueuus huu tn'icu.
The doctor tapped at tho window oi
tho room In which the paralysed mar
was sitting alone after dark, ut the
shmc timc softly calling his name,
when he at once appeared Mt the win-
dow. "llow long hayc you been
dumb, my. fricndg" said q passenger
on sl,ipboard once to n pretended
mute. "Three weeks, sir" replied
the incautious siinpleton. An old
device ofnrmy surgeons, IN suspicious
cases of deafness, was 10 commence q
conversation in n high tone, and gra-
dually to lower. the voice 10 All ordin-
airy pitch. A common malingerer
would probably continue to reply to
the questions put, from not observing
the alteration. Tho most remarkable
example on record nf success IN SIM
ula,ing dcaf.dumbacss Tor deafness
from birtl) is that of Frencllman,
best known under his assumed name
of Victor Foy, ut the beginning Of
the present century. This young
man Travelled about, ostcnsibly in
search of his father, but really, in his
character of q dcai-mutc, to escape
military CONSUMPTION. For four years
his extraordinary ingenuity baflicd
all the tests to which he was subject
cd by some OF the most scientific men
of France, Germany, Switzerland,
Spain, and Italy. In Switzerland he
was tempted to avow the deceit by
n young. rich. and beautiful woman
offering him her hand /; but even this
bait did not take. Ii the prison at
Rochelle, tho 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 bciray himself. To throw
him off his guard, he was often vio-
lemtly awakened out of steep; but his
fright was expressed only in the usual
plainiivc cry of n mute and it is said
that even in his dreams only cultural
sounds were heard. AT last, the Abbc
Sicard, director of the institution for
deaf-mutcs at Paris, to whom a spc-
cimcn of his writings had been trans
mittcd. promptly pronounced him al
impostor, OH the ground that his blum
dcrs i'll spelling were phonetic in their
charactcr-that he wrote, not us lie
saw, but as he heard. NJ. Sicard after
wards subjected him 10 Il personal
examination, at the end of which he
was.oDliged to confess the imposition.
a very simple incident will often
suffice TO throw good simulator of
his guard. The lcttcr-carrier on cn-
term. French barra3k- k-rooni, on one
occasion, called out the names of the
men for whom he had letters, and
among ihcia that of a man believed
oy everybody to be laboring under
! almost total deafness. For one mo-
mcnt he forgot his part, and answer
ed to his name. Casper, the celebrated
German medical jurist, on one occa-
sion neatly exposed Il case of counter
felt deafness i'll open court. The
panel. an old woman, pretended TO be
as deaf u Il post. "You are accused" )"
roared Casper in her ear, "of severely
| injuriMg the woman Lcmke." at is
not true" '.But,' soareeta Cnsper
again, the woman Lcmke asserts that
it is trne," and then rapidly added in
Il low tone, "and she is certainly not
a liar. Her wrath for IL moment got
the better of her consistency, and she
rcjoincd, to the amusement of the
whole court: "Ies, indeed, she is n
liar" Possibly the nationality of
the hero of the following incident is
cllnrgeable with the inpulsive impru-
prudence which betrayed him. An
Irish army recruit who had suddenly
lost his hearing was sent into hospi-
tai, ami put, by the doctors order. on
sroon-mcat. For nine days the latter
i'll his visits passed the deaf mans
bed without seeming to notice him :;
on the tenth day, after examining the
state of his tongue and pulse, lie ask
ed the attendant what kind of food
the patient was getting. On being
told lie was on spoon-meat, lie affect
ell to be very angry. care you not
ashamed of yOurself?" said he TO the
nurse. The poor fellow is almost
starved to death. Let him at once
have abeefstcak and pint of porter" !"
"God bless your honor" blurtcd out
the deaf recruit; ''you are tie best
gentleman have seen for many u
day" Under the influence of strong
emotion Of any Kind, only u limited
class of malingcrers have sufficient
seli-command TO play their parts.
An amusing mplc of the way in
which, i'll the heat of passion, every
vestigc of pre;encc is sometimes
thrown away, is related by surgeon
of the navy, to whose experiences VIC
have already been indebted. a sea-
man on board frigate, who pretend
ed to be totally blind, and was be-
lieved to be SO, was OH one occasion
allowed to 20 on shore with all at
ftcndant to lead him. The pair hap
pencd to quarrel, and come to blows:
when the blind man, finding himself
undu!y handicapped, instantly re-
gained his sight, and got the better of
MS nstomishcd guide. The latter took
10 flight, WAS pursued through great
part f the town by his late protcgc,
am finally got severe drubbimg from
hlm. The application of the cat-o'-
ninc-tails next day to the back of the
imposior, ttfectually cured him of any
further tendency TO defect of vision.
The amount of foriitudc-call il
obstinacy if you wi:l-displayed by
some of this class of impostors IS
something amazing. Day and night
they will remain in the most con-
strained and irksome positions. For
weeks and even months, men have
sat and walked with their bodies bent
double. A man fcigniug palsy of the
lower limbs was placed by hims elf in
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