Daily press and Dakotaian. [volume] (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1875-1880, 1875-12-20
THE DRUNKARD'S FATE.
Their LIABILITY 10 Spontaneous
Combustion.
The Poor Wretchcs who have been
Reduced TO Clndcrs and Ashes.

Reduced to Clndcrs and Ashes.
The writer in the Cincinnati Com.
mercial says: Some years ago story
said to be one of those convenient,
made up stories, which help to fill out
the bottom of a newspaper column,
went the rounds Of the press, and
died away at last in the extreme rural
districts, about the spontaneous burn
ing up OF an old Tennessee topper. 1t
was said thati,e put coal Of fire up
on his pipe TO light it, and while in
the act ofTblowing< this coal to ignite
the tobacco, his breath took fire, a
kind of blue flame aud dense smoke |
curlcd up, and in minute or two, the
smoke cleared away, and Ill that was
left Of topper, pipe, breath, and all,
was a heap OF ashes.
Nobody seriously believed the story
Of the Tennessee topper, and yet when
one comes to look into the matter he
will find that in different parts of the
civilized world cases of spontaneous
combustion Of the living human body
Z are on record which are as we'll au.
thenticat,d as the battle of Bunker
Hill. Medical men have been ac-
quainted with such facts for years
Moreover, cases in which persons
have thus anticipated purgatory, and
at the same time disposed of their
bodies by involuntary self cremation,
are by no means so uncommon as ole
might suppose. Various medical
books mention numbers and numbers
of. them, about which there can be no
shadow Of doubt.
The causes of such an extraordinary
phenomenon as the spontaneous
burning up Of live human being
was at first an impenetrable mystery.
.Juries summoned in these cases readi-
ly arrived at the nearest and easiest
way out Of the difficulty, and decided
it came by a visitation Of Gods" and
even now, when visitations of God
are not supposed to be SO frequent as
they used to be, the mystery of spon-
taneous combustion is not yet wholly
solved by science. This much is Ger.
tain however; it occurs in elderly per-
sons of Incorporate habits. Both
very lean and very fat drunkards are
liable to be burnt up Thirdly, wo.
men particularly are apt to be taken
out of the world in this awful man
ncr.
Death from spontaneous combus
ton, or, as it used to be called, "pre
ternatural combustion byvisitation o
God,'' is almost instantaneous. Ont
moment the unfortunate individual ii
live human being; the next momen
he is a heap Of ashes and bad smell
with perhaps an item or two Of |
half.consumed head or foot left to tel
what had been. There is but on
well established instance which tn
spontaneously consumed person live
long enough to narratc how he wa
attacked. That invidual was Roma
4 Catholic priest, Father Bertholi.
Father Bertholi retired to bed on
evening in the house Of a relative
\ few moments after, "a strange noise
mingled with cries, was heard frol
the room" The people Of the hous
rushed in, and beheld Father Berthe
standing on the floor, surrounded b
strange, Pickering flame, which r.
ccdcd as they came near, Hike ii@ise-a-,Fi
of-tle-wisp. A surgeon was calle'
who found the skin Of the right ar
and Of the back looscned and hangin
down.
The patient lived four days, ar
died in most horrible manner, t.
horrible to describe. The only a
.uount he could give Of the attack W
that he had suddenly felt a blow -upIs
the right arm, as if he had sudden
been struck with club. On lool<i,
at his arm he saw spark Of Fl
hanging to his sleeve, which instant
was burnt off his arm. His cap w
also burnt off, while his hair was n
even scorched. In this case the
was no fire or light in the room.
. One case of "preternatursl CO
%hustion," which occurred somethi
over sixty years ago., served an
ecllept purpose to our good fricl
the Mcthodisls, who printed it far a
wide andSpadc truly awful exam
pf it. Thc<medical man who reco
| This case is at pains to state in
beginning that he does not depe
solely for his facts uponthe Method
Magazine, or even upon the Wcsle.
minister who first told the story,
] that. it was confirmed from OF
sources. lhc1story Of this truly
1 i'll example is about thus: s
Near 2 o'clock one<fightthe kee
of an almshouse in Limerick ,
awakened by one of the inmates
great alarm. There was someth