The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1875-06-12
A MYSTERIOUS INFLUENCE.y
singular Proceedings In a Corset FACTORY
Several Young Ladies Surcumb.

singular Proceedings In a Corset FACTORY
Several Young Ladies Succumb.
New Haven Journal, May 20
The particulars of an interesting oc-
currence at the corset factory of Mr.. I.
Strouse, on Oak street, Tuesday, will
be of interest to students of those occult
matters In the mental and physical con-
ditions of human beings which for ages
have puzzled the physicians and philo-
sophers of the world. The facts, in
brief, are as follows: In the factory of
Mr.. Strouse large number of young
ladies, some of considerable intelli-
gence, are employed in the various
branches of work usually per-
formed in every large factory
of that kind in the country. At
about IL o'clock in the forenoon
of Tuesday, small knot of girls stood
chatting together On different topics,
based upon current events as reported
in the daily newspapers, and by natu-
raj progression in the talk they came to
speak of sudden deaths, and of the re-
cital of cases where persons had been
cut off from life without previous warn
ing of the nearness of their dying dav.
There was all at once felt by the girls
the shadow of a solemnity as of the
sweep of pail through the room, and
conversation, which had been quite
Lively, was in moment hustled as
though spell of silence had been laid
on every tongue. One particularly
spirited and pretty girl-Miss Shea
being perhaps disinclined to acknowl-
edge the rather unusual and fearsome
sense of something awful which had
come among them, in an effort at play
fulness placed on workbench near one
Of the young girls common land turtle
which had been picked up somewhere.
The girl on whose bench it was laid
turned and saw it, gave shrek
which sounded elish in intensity,
and Immediately fell to the floor in a
faint, as though she had been dead.
This apparently led to a touch of honor
in the minds Of the other girls, some of
whom grew white in countenance, with
a set expression on their faces, and for
an instant not word or cry was ut
tered. Soon the same kind of thing
happened to another of the girls. She
fell to the floor in what looked like a
dead faint or the trance of a person ex-
hausted by prolonged mental excite
ment, leading to exhaustion. Shortly
another girl was seized with the same
kind of an attack, and she, too, yielded
to the influence and was numbered with
those who had already given way. One
after another of the girls tainted and
fell until no less than seven of the young
| ladies had been brought low. The affair
was SO unexpected that CONSERVATION or
at least deep interest was shown by
the workmen employed in the men s
| department. Some of them grew
| pallid and tremulous as if with sudden
fear, and pretty soon one of them was
taken with an attack similar to that
which afflicted the young ladies. He
| apparently summoned all the forces of
his mind and body to resist the mystic
rious tendency, but he. too, yielded and
tainted away. The thing began to look
serious. What allied everybody was
the question with everybody not imme-
diately affected by or under control of
this singular nervous dispensation, and
at this iuncture SO painful was the sense
of apprehension that when Mr.. Morris,
the foreman, ordered stoppage of the
work and a dispersion of the work
people to their homes a great relief was
felt. All were required to move off
quietly, and by this judicious treatment
no further demonstration became pos
sible.