Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-11-30
DEAD AED YET ALIVE
Nary Fancher in n Trance for
Thirteen Years.
She is Blind and Yet Can See, Deaf and
Yet Can Hear, Alive, but
REQUIRES no FoOd.

rhQncner much OF tne tllne IN eA""NS
like condition, with feeble heart pull
stations sluggish and almost lmpercep-
tible respiration. and the chill of death
unon her flesh. At the age OF fourteen
Miss Fancher was seriously injured in
the spine and about the head while
alighting from a street car, being
thrown to the ground and dragged
along over the stones by the tangling
Of her dress in the real Of the car.
She was removed to the house of her
aunt, Mrs. Crosby, in Downing street,
and put in bed, whence she has never
been removed save for a few minutes
at a time.
This was early in 1865. Very soon
after the accident she underwent the
most astonishing physical changes.
Her nervous system was uncomfortable
whenever she was in any manner X
cited, while she was absolutely para
| lived at other times. In succession
She was bereft of vision, speech and
hearing. From violent spasms she
drifted into a trance-like state, from
which it required the unremitting
efforts of physicians and friends to
arouse her. At the expiration of
twenty days her faculties were all re-
stored. For half an hour she saw,
articulated and listened. Then these
three senses deserted her again, and
within ten more days her fingers be-
4 came clenched, her jaws locked, her
limbs twisted. Spasms were there
after more frequent and violent. The
DAYS slipped away into weeks before
She was able to keep any food on her
! stomach, and it was just short of two
months that she was without nourish-
ment. Then very little food was one
day given her with seemingly benef-
cial results. She has eaten altogether
since that day-nearly thirteen years
ago-not so much food in the aggre-
, gate as an ordinarily healthful girl Of
her age would eat in forty-eight hours
i, NINE YEARS OF TRANCE.
Three months and a half after the
accident she went into a rigid trance
for tweenty-one hours, and then passed
into a relaxed trance that lasted fol
! three DAYS. Her throat became para.
; lived. and she could neither swallow
nor utter a sound, Her right arm
doubled up back of her head and be-
, came fixed there with the rigidity o
r death. A year later this condition
/, was followed by absolute rightly 0
body, with the exception Of the lief
: arm and hand, which she was able Il
1 use. This latter condition lasted 70
4 nine years, in all of which time sh
q was continually drifting into and on
of frances. She continued to be blind
the pupils of the eyes being rolled up
e ward, and the whites only visibl
a when the lids were parted for examin
alton. Very tightly indeed were tn
lids sealed, and with difficulty wer
y they opened. She had the power q
n speech. however, almost all of tn
L time although it left her at inter
IS walls.
Three years ago the rigidity Of he
body relaxed and sight and hearin
u were restored. Her present conditio
II is blindness, the eyelids closed, tn
pupils sightless and staring; laxity {
# body, save in her right arm, that re
mains rigid and doubled as above dc
scribed inability totake nourishmen.
D with no desire for it except at long in
y tervals, when she puts a bit of fruit q
candy in her mouth for a short tim,
- and then rejects it; torpidity of tn
a. system, with sluggish ~pulsation an
not vigorous respiration; cheerfulnes
of with increasing sensitiveuess to bein
1t made the theme of public gossip, an
., to receiving strangers; enlargement
- the heart and soreness in the ribs tn;
were broken by the fall from a horse
ID rheumatic and neuralgia pains; FRI
al quent changes in the bodilystate, wit
N tendency toward pulmonary troubles
power of speech and Of hearing.
Is TESTIMONY THAT CANNOT BE II
er PUGNED.
a. During all these thirteen year
~ though blind, she bias read with pc
: feet case. She has from the first bee
able to see and describe acts al
Is persons far removed from her bedsid
Ill AT times she has been transform
Ia. into a cheerful, vivacious, intelliger
entertaining young woman, and tn
W she has relapsed into speechlessne'
It's, blindness, deafness and entire paral
in sis Of the senses. She has develop
re- most astonishing powers, resemble
,,o second sight or clairvoyance, readi
ii0 with ease the contents of sealed Il
ters, describing articles in hidd
nd packages, perusing books while abb
lrn lutely blind. Sometimes her powers I
. voluntary, at other times they are l
consciously exercised, So little MOI
10 ishment has she taken that it may
has said she lives without food. She
my surrounded by persons Of social star
my ing and refinement, and has alw
been exceedingly sensitive to any pr
'ns' lie mention or knowledge Of her G.
On dition. She has ever repealed
/, effort TO couple her manifestatil
WIN lhOec VI |gdnNci has DCBl
iter to be allowed TO live and die in
, is retirement Of her home, unmoles
t, ofl by strangers and accessible only to
friends Oergymcn, physicians, n
lng Of letters and Of intelligence have
ON tied her. Among many who h
oil taken a special interest IL her are
Ala. Rev. DR.. Joseph 7. Duryea, pastor
the Classon Avenue Presbyter
Ivy church the Rev. DR.. Henry j.
eral Dyck, pastor Of the Clinton Stl
ape Presbyterian church Professor CT
yitb Il. West. principal Of the Brook
Heights Seminary. George w. B
mo son, Henry NJ. Parkhlrst, the astr
ms omer, and a host of others ina
And published In che Sum.
d to DR.. DuTyea suggests TO the Sun
Miss FaDeheF's mind has been fl
from the bondage Of the body, and
ator if not governed by new laws it is al