The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1874-07-30
A Remarkable Case.
A YOUNG GIRL CARRIES SNAKE IN HER
STOMACH FOUR YEARS.

YOUNG GIRL CARRIES SNAKE IN HER
STOMACH FOUR YEARS.
The Murfreesboro Tenn Netos, of June
26, says: For many months past it has
been reported that a young lady living
near Christina, in this county, was afflicted
in a very singular manner, and a great
many said was possessed either of devil
or reptile of some character which was
located in her stomach. Many had been
the remarks thereabout, some affirming its
possibility, while others hooted'' at the
bare mention of such thing. The inter-
est had continued to increase in regard to
il until at different times most all the ply
sicians in that end of the county had visit
ed the afflicted young lady, and we might
say without eXaggeration two-thirds of the
people of the same section. The grand
elimination. however, was reached on
Friday night last, Goth of June, by its eX-
traction from the stomach of the girl by
Dr. j. NJ. Burger of the heretofore mooted
" thing" which was nothing more or less
| than live snake twenty-three inches long
and twO-thirds of an inch in diameter.
The girls name is Thankful TAYLOR: Her
father is dead, and her mother has since
married her present husband, William
Carroll. Her age is twenty-five wears,
and since her infancy she has been more
or less delicate at times. She first was
troubled with the snake about four years
ago, and since that time it has continued
to grow worse, until for the past two years
her life has been almost continually one
of pain and trouble. When she felt the
motions of the snake in her stomach they
were frequently perceptible across the
room, with an ordinary bed quilt over her,
and were generally upon one or the other
If no. or ha
great pain, and frequently SO severe it
would produce commissions; she would
lose her mind, and remain sometimes in a
death. like state for twenty-four or thirty
six hours. At times her suffering was so
great her skin would split open, and the
flesh upon her head split so much it be-
came necessary to cut her hair OIL very
short, in which condition it is now, and
the scars are perceptible to all. She fire.
Quently remarked on the 18th it was COM
ing up soon, and just after dark on that
evening as the family were seated about
the door and some of them on the outside,
she arose from her pallet on the floor,
rushed out of the west door of the cabin,
and in a strangling manner run some fif-
teen or twenty steps and fell upon her
knees. The family, Supposing her in
spasm, ran after her, and her little brother
reaching her first, called back to his moth
er that ''that thing was in sis's mouth"
Her step-brOther caught and held her from
behind, she ali the while making desperate
efforts to get loose. and appeared strang-
ling to death. Her mother finding the
thing" in her mouth, as though it had
come up head foremost, and in going back
the same way had doubled itself, makinga
loop. in which she put her finger and held
10 W hppn
sent for instantly, and arrived in a few
minutes from his home, some 400 yards off
the way he had to come. The mother, re-
membering the doctors iniunctiOns, held
fast, and as it tried to worm itself back into
the stomach she called upon her daughter
to close her teeth upon (which her daugh-
ter saws she did. and there is certainly upon
the snake, just where she would have ia
ken hold, unmistakable signs of marks
that might have been made by teeth. SO
soon as the doctor arrived he took hold of
it and drew it out, it making efforts to get
down, but coming up with the use of but
little strength.
STATEMENT OF DIR. BURGER.
DR.. J. NJ. Burger, a practicing physician
in said county and State, makes the follow
ing statement upon his professional
honor:
" mat just alter dlfk Oh llle nlSHI Ol
the Doth of June, 1874, was sent for in
great hurry to attend Thankful Taylor,
and in company with Miss Johnnie Baton
| at once proceeded to her home, a short
distance off, and found her upon the
ground, with her step-father holding her,
and her mother holding to something in
her mouth. at once took hold of it and
extracted it, which proved to be a living
snake, twenty-three inches long and two
thirds of an inch in diameter. The girl,
when | reached her, was in strangling
condition, but was instantly relieved upon
its extraction. 1t appeared, from the po-
Sition found the snake, it had come up
head foremost, and in attempting to go
back was caught with its head down the
esOphagus. | should think six or eight
inches. The reptile lived four or five
minutes. and was covered with light mu-
cous substance. | am satisfied the snake
came from the stomach of the girl, and
was satisfied, from the beginning of my
treatment of her in January last, that she
was afflicted with a reptile of some charac-
ter in hcr stomach. She now seems per-
fectly recovered, and is able to walk about,
90 to church, or anywhere, which she has
not been able to do before since | began to
treat her. j. NJ. BURGER, Nj. d."