The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1877-02-14
A NOVEL NURSERY.
A Young Cherry Orchard Started i'm the
Stomach of Lover of Cherry Pie.
New York Mercury.l

New York Mercury
A very singular case has lately come to
light in one of the fashionable boarding
houses Situated on Twenty-third street, next
door to the Catholic church of st. Vincent
de Paul. Washington and his cherry tree
have been outdone, and the facts are so
curious as to give them almost the color of
fiction; yet they are vouched for by re-
sponsible parties who have studied
the phenomenon from its inception.
Last summer bright, healthy young
man, residing in tie house in question, par
took freely of cherry pie, dish of which he
was exceedingly fond, and, by some mad
yertance, swallowed a cherry stone. He
thought nothing of the occurrence at the
time, as it caused him no material inconve-
nience; but at the end of a week or ten
days he was seized with violent pains in the
stomach, from which the simple remedies at
hand offered him no relief. 1t was pit
liable to witness his sufferings, so in
tense and excrutiating did they appear to
be. The young man continued to suffer,
and grew thinner and paler day by day. At
the end of six weeks he had become so fee
BILE that he was compelled to leave his bust
ness and confine himself TO bed His moth
er, an estimable lady, who resided in the
interior of the state, was sent for and nursed
him assiduoasly day and night. The most
discouraging thing in the whole case was
that none of the physicians who were called
in could determine the character of his dis
ease. The symptoms were entirely unique.
The young man, whose name was Hender-
son-the Christian name being withheld at
the request of relatives-said that he ex-
perienced sensation as if something were
Speeding among and tying up his lntestines
The physicians arrived at the conclusion
that he was afflicted with worms, and
treated him accordingly, but with no eff
feet. Whatever the disease was, it
- lo4u L. -
and the doctors and the heart-broken
mother were Obliged to stand idly by and
see young Henderson die before their eyes.
In the meantime his sufferings increased.
Sleep was almost stranger to him, and he
complained more aid more of the peculiar
feeling of vitality in the intestines distinct
from his own. After lying for four months,
he died in great agony. Weak as he was he
seemed to be possessed of a fictitious
strength, and at the time of his exer-
tions in the paroxysms of agony
to which he was subjected, two men
could with difficulty hold him on the
led. After young Henderson's death the
case had excited so much attention IN medi-
cal circles, the consent of the mother was
obtained to an autopsy being made upon the
body. Invitations were sent to several ply
sicians of the city, and the investigation
commenced of what was to be cause celebre
in medical history. On opening the body,
incredible as it may appear, it was dis
covered that the cherry stone had
sprouted in the stomach of the I'M
fortunate young man. The assembled
doctors could hardly credit the testimony of
their own eyes, palpable although it was be-
fore them. By some peculiar process the
cherry stone, after having become lodged in
young Henderson's stomach, had actually
sprouted as thrifty as if it had been planted
in the ground The strange pains of the
| young man were now accounted for
| for proceeding from the cherry stone were
shoots of fibers which had ramified through
! the intestines of the victim, and in
some instances, had coiled themselves tight
| ly around them. In the vicinity of the heart
| there were a number of these shoots, and
one of them, larger than the rest, in press
! ing upon this organ, had been the immedi-
| ate cause of death. OF these shoots there
were in all Ii, varying in length from three
to nine inches. In color they were white,
with faint yellowish green tinge towards
the base. The shoot which had pressed
| against young Henderson's heart was con-
siderably thicker and larger than the
rest, and had peculiar reddish tinge, which
the others had not. The shoots were so
closely twined and twisted around the in
testines that it was found impossible to re-
move them, and so they have not been pre-
served to science The case, however, was
/ so entirely sui ge1eTis that in all probability
full and scientific account of it will be
written and published by the physicians and
surgeons interested in it. What has been
recorded here is plain unvarnished state
ment of facts, stripped of all technicalities
or speculations.