The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1877-03-22
A CHERRY TREE IN HIS STOMACH.

A CHERRY TREE IN HIS STOMACH.
AWFUL FATE OF A YOUNG NEW YORKER
HE SWALLOWS A CHERRY STONE,
WHICH SPROUTS AND GROWS INTO HIS
HEART. y 50
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, says q New York paper.
Washington and his cherry tree have
been. outdone, and the facts areso curious
as to give them almost the color of fiction;
yet they are vouched for by responsible
parties, who have studied the phelome-
non from its inception. Last summer q
bright, healthy young man, residing in
the house in question, partook freely of
cherry pie, dish of which he was eK-
ceedingly fond, and, by some inadver-
tance, swallowed cherry stone. He
thought nothing of the occurrence at the
time, as it caused him no material incon-
venience; 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 pitiable to witness his suferings,
so intense and excruciating did they ap-
pear 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 feeble that he ,,was, compelled
to leave his business and neihimself
to bed. His mother, an estimable lady,
who resided in the interior Of the State,
was'sent for and nursed him assiduously
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 disease.
The symptoms were entirely Unique
The young man whose name was Hen
derson-the Christian name, being, with
held at the request of relatives said that
he had experienced a sensation asif some
thing were gradually spreading among
and tying up his intestines: The rphysi-
clans arrived at the conclusion, that he
was afflicted with worms, and treated him
accordingly, but with no effect. What
ever the disease WAS it seemed to battle
the pharmacopeia, and the doctors and
the heart-broken mother were oblighed
to stand idle and see young Henderson
die before their eyes. In the meantime
his suffering increased. Sleep was almost
a stranger to him, and he complained
more and more of the peculiar feeiingof
vitality in the intestines, distinct from
his own. After lying four months, he
died in great agony.
Weak 'as he was, he seemed to be pos,
sessed of fictitious strength; and atithe
time of his exertions in the paroxysmsof
agony to (Which he was subject, two could
with difficulty hold him on the bed, Af-
ter young Henderson's death, the case
had excited SO much attention in.medical
circles, the consent of the mother was
obtained to an autopsy being made upon
the body. Invitations were sent to sew
eral physicians ofthe city, and the iinves-
tigation commenced of what was 10 bea
cause celebreuin medical history. 6On
opening the; body, incredible as it may
appear, it was discovered that the cherry
stone had sprouted in the stomach of the
unfortunate young man. The assembled
doctors could hardly credit the testimony
of theirown eyes, palpable although it
was before them, By some peculiar pro-
cess the cherry stone, after having become
lodged in young Henderson's stomach,
actually sprouted as thrifty as if it he'd
been planted Underground. The strange
pains in the young man were now ac-
counted for, for, proceeding from the
cherry stone were shoots of fbers which
had ramifed through the intestines of the
victim, and, in some instances, had coiled
themselves, tightly around them. In the
vicinity of the heart there were a num-
Der of these shoots, and one of them,
larger than the rest, in pressing upon
this organ, had been the immediate cause
of death. Of these shoots there werein
all fourteen, varying in length from three
to nine inches. In color they were white,
with a faint yellowish green tingei toward
the base. The shoot which had pressed
against young Henderson's heart was
considerably thicker and Larger than. the
rest, and had peculiar reddish tinge,
which tile others had not. The shoots
were so closely twined around the inses-
tines that itiwas found impossible tore.
move them, and so, they have not been
preserved to science. The case, however,
was so entirely s,ti gene1is that in all
probability a'full and scientific account
of it will be written and published by the
physicians and surgeons interested init.
What has been recorded here is q plain
unvarnished statement of fact, stripped
of all technicalities or speculations. -