The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1875-10-27

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We'll Authenticated Cases o1 the Con.
sumption Of the human Frame by
Eefvent Heat. 1>.". {!
[Cincinnati Commercial.]r "
Some years ago a story, supposed to b
one of those convenient, :made.up stories
which help to fill out the bottom Of q
newspaper column, went the rounds to
the press, and died away at last in the ex'
IRENE rural districts, about the spontan'
eous burning ups of an old TENNESSEE
topper. 1t was said that he put a coal Of
fire upon his pipe to light it, and while in
the act of blowing this coal to ignite the
tobacco, his breath took. FIRE, kind Of
blue fame and dense smoke curled up,
and in minute or two, the smoke clear.
ed away, and all that was left Of topper,
pipe, breath and all was heap Of ashes.
Nobody seriously believed the story Of
che 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 are on record,
which are as we'll authenticated as the
battle Of Bunker Hill. Medical men have
been acquainted with such facts for years.
Moreover, cases in which persons have
thus anticipated purgatory, and at the
same time disposed Of their bodies by in
voluntary self cremation, are by no means
so uncommon as one might suppose.
Various medical books mention numbers
and numbers of them, about which there
can be no shadow Of doubt. A
The causes of such an extraordinary
phenomenon as the spontaneous burning
mp Of live human being was at first an
impenet1 able mystery. Juries summon
ed in these cases readily arrived at the
nearest and easiest way out of the diff
Guilty, and decided that it came by = evils.
station Of God - and even now. when Wis
stations OF God are not supposed to be so
frequent as they used to be, the mystery
of spontaneous combustion is not yet
wholly solved by science. This much is
certain, however; it occurs to elderly
persons of incorporate habits. Both
very fat and very lean drurkards are
liable to be burnt up. Third y women
particularly are apt to be taken out of
the world IN this awful manner.
Death from spontaneous combustion,
or, as it used to be called, "preternatural
combustion by visitation of Gods is al
most instantaneous. One moment the
unfortunate individual is live human
being; the next moment is heap Of
ashes and bad smell, with perhaps an
item or two of half.consumed head or
foot to tell what had been. There is
but one well established instance in which
the spontaneously consumed person lived
long enough to narrate how he was at
tackled. That individual was a Roman
Catholic priest, Father Bertholi.
Father Bertholi retired to bed one
evening in the house Of arelative. a, few,
moments after, "a strange noise. mingled
with cries, was heard from the roem."
The people of the house rushed in, and
beheld Father Bertholi standing on the
5hsar, surrounded by strange, Pickering
flame, which receded as they came near,
like = will.o' .the.wisp. A surgeon was
called, who found the skin of the right
arm and Of the back loosened and bang
ing down.
The patient lived four days, and died
an q st horrible manner, too horrible
to describe. The only account he could
give of the attack was that he had sud-
denly felt blow upon the right arm, as
If he had been struck with club. On
looking at his right arm he saw a spark
of fire hanging to his sleeve, which in
stantly was burnt off his arm. His cap
was also burnt of, while his hair was not
sco1ehed. In this case there was no fire
or light in the room.
which occurred something over sixty
years ago, served an excellent purpose to
our good friends the Methodists, who
printed it far and wide and made truly
awful example of it. The medical man
who records this case is at pains to state
in the beginning that he does not depend
solely for his facts upon the Methodist
Magazine, or even upon the Wesleyan
minister who first told the story, but
that it was confirmed from other sources.
The story of this truly awful example is
about thus:
Near two o'clock one night the keeper
Of an aims house in Limerick was awak-
ened by one of the inmates in great
alarm. There was something fearful
going on in his room, the person said.
The keeper. Mr.. O'Neil, fastened to the
spot, and found lying in the middle Of
the floor burning human body, which
was all over Of the color Of a red-hot coal
In the ceiling just above was large hole.
on fire around the edges, through which