The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1874-01-17
of MarEgvi7io, Louisiana, N a letter to the N. Y.


of Marl:svi'le, Louisiana, n letter to the N. Y
| Sun, says:
| "Mr. Frederick Halter is by profession law
| yer. He early acquired, however, quite fond
| ness for the natural sciences, especially geol.
| ogy He has perhaps the largestand most com
| plete geological cabinet in Louisiana. Some
| thing over month ago he married, taking as
| his bride charming young girlo l6. As ply
| sician to her fathers family and an intimate
| friend was an honored guest at the marriage
ceremony | am sure never saw a more beau
| tiful and happy bride.
"Next afternoon she and some thr rec or four ef
| her most intimate friends went into Mr.. Hal,
| ler's Crock Study" to look over the cabinet OF
| curiosities. Among the curiosities which Mr..
| Halter had gathered were several round beuld-
| ers brought from Arkansas. These boulders
| on being broken present in the central space
crystalline formation, and are usua lily not much
| larger than the double fists. One of these
| however was unusually large, measuring TWEEN
| ty-one inches in circumference. Frequently
| the internal surface, always hollow, contains
water, or rather concentrated solution of silica
in water. This fact was known to one of the
| young ladies, who mentioned it,
| cat once it was proposed to break the large
| one, and several Intellectual attempts were
made by them with geological hammer
| They called to their aid colored man, a SER
want on the place, who was requested to break
| ~
| meath the boulder as the man held it, one study
| blow of his stalwart arm cracked it, and the
| fluid within ran out and was collected in the
| pitcher, scarcely losing drop, there being a
| half pint of it.
"The wife, without ever giving it a thought,
conceived the notion of drinking the water
| from the boulder She poured most of it into
glass tumblcr, nearly filling it, and, lifting it
| to her lips, she drank first to the health of her
| husband, then to that of the unmarried friends
| in the room, wishing them shortly to be happy
| brides life herself, and drained the glass. But
| in few minutes the youthful bride complain
| ed Of excessive pain in the stomach, and began
! to realize the rashness of her action.
ga messenger was sent in haste for her hus
| band and myself Mr.. Haller's Office being near
| my own we received the message almost sim
| ultaneously, and we rapidly drove together in
| my buggy to his house. When we arrived she
was dead, period of fifteen minutes having
elapsed from the time of taking the fatal
draught to the timeof extinction of life. They
were just laying her out on my arrival. To
| my surprise found she had grown in thai short
period SO rigid to render ficult to straight
| en- her limbs. In the course of three-quarters
| of an hour her entire body became as hard and
| infexible as bone.
"0n more minute examination and inquiry
| found that the dissolved silica she had taken
| into her stomach had been absorbed and trans j..
mltted by the chylopoietic apparatus ana blood
vessels throughout the system, and that her
whole body was petrifaction. The case being
so singular and so sudden, the husband and the
brides family consented to partial post-mor-
| tenn examination, other medical men coming
| to my assistance.
eve found it impossible to cut through any
| portion with our scalpels. DR.. Ferguson broke
his seal pei in the first attempt. We were able
only to break through the chest with Ratchet,
| finding extreme difficulty in entering thoracie
| cavity, the contents being all solidfed. The
| heart was found as firm and solid as stone, re-
sembling n piece of cornelian as to both color
| and consistency"