Bozeman avant courier. [volume] (Bozeman, Mont.) 1872-1882, 1874-03-06
SUDDEN pETRI TION OF A
BRIDE.

DR.. ,jorsc!s, Of MarksyilIe, La, in a
letter 70 the New York Sun of Satur
day, says:
Mr. Frederick Haller is by profess
| sion a lawyer. He early acquired,
however, quite a fondncss for the
natural sciences, especially geology
He has perhaps the largest and most
complete geological cabinet in LOuisi,>
ara. Something over Il month ago
he married, taking as his bride a
charming young girl of 1G. AS physi-
clan to her fathers family and an inti-
mate friend was an honOrcd guest at
the marriage ceremony. am sure
ncvc? saw Il more beautiful and happy
bride.
Next afternoon she and some thrco
OR four Of her most intimate friends
went into Nh. Ialler's Crock Study,~
to look over the cabinet of curiOsities.
Among the curiosities which Mr.. Ha'.-
Ter had gathered were several round
boulders brought from Arkansas.
These boulders on being broken pre-.
sent in the ce,tra! space crystalline
formation, and are usually not much
larger than the double fists. One of
these, however: was unusually large,
measuring twenty-One inches in cir.
cumference. Frequently the Internal
surface, always hollow, contains water;;-
Or rather Il concentrated solution OF
silica in yater. This fact was known
to one Of the young ladies, who men.
toned il.
At once It was proposed to break
the large one, and several ineficctuaf
attempts were made by them with u
geological hammer. They called to
their ail coicreu man, u servant On
the place, who was requested to break
open the rock. A pitcher being placed
underneath the boulder as the man
held it, one sturdy blow of his stalwart
arm cracked it, and the fluid within
ran ont and was collected in the pitch
er, scarcely losing drop, there being
a half pint Of it.
The bride, without e.-cc giving it u
thought conceived the l.0tiOn of drink
ing the water from the boulder. She
poured most Of it into glass tumbler,
nearly filling it, and. lifting it to her
lips, she drank first to the health of
her husband, then to that Of the uE:
married friends in the room, wishing
them shortly to be happy brides like
herself, and drained the glass. But
in few minutes the youthful bride
complained of excessive pain in the
stomach, and began to realize tho
rasl,nesS Of her action.
n messenger was sent in haste for
her husband and myself. Mr.. Haller's
Office being near my own, we received
the message almost Simultaneously
and we rapidly drove together in my
buggy to his house. When we arrived
she was dead, period of fifteen min:
utes having elapsed from the time of
taking the fatal diaught to the time of
extinction Of life. They were just lay
ing her out on my arrival. To my
l found she had grown in that
short period SO rigid as to render it
difficult to stra;ghten her limbs. In
the course of three-qvartcrs of an hour
her entire body became as hard and
inheXible as bone.
On more minute examination and in
auiry found that the dissolved silica
.:e had taken into her stomach had
been absorbed and transmitted by tho
apparatus and blood YES.
sells throughout the system, and that
her whole body was petriication.-'
The case being so singular and so sud
len, the husband and the brides
iamily consented to partial pOstmor.
tenn examination, other medical men
coming to my assistance.
We found it impossible to cut thro'
any portion with our scalpels. Dr.
Ferguson broke his scalpM in tho first
We were able only to break
through the chest with a hatchet, find
ing extreme difficulty in entering the
thoracic cavity, the contents being all
solihed. The hear. was found as firm
and as solid as stone, resembling II
piece OF cornelian as to both color aGd
-z>> c-s-ay
CREA,i o1tAs,:sf rahbcst upon sdl.et
white kid gloves cleanses them wsH.