Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-12-04
DEAD AND YET ALIVE.
The Wonderful story Related OF Miss
Mary j. EaEcher, who Is Blind and
Yet can See, Dear and Vet
can Hear. Alive, but Re-
qGIres no Food.

can near, AnVes nut ne"
qGires NO Food.
In Downing street, Brooklyn, has lain for
thirteen years Miss Mary ]. Fancher, much
OF the time in trauce-llke condition, with
feeble heart pulsations, sluggish and almost
imperceptible respiration, and the chill of
death upon her flesh. At the age OF fourteen
Miss Fancher was seriously injured in the
spine aad about the head while alightiDg
from a street Ger, being thrown to the around
and dragged along over the stones by the
tangling of her dress in the rear OF the car.
She was removed 10 the house of her aunt,
Mrs. Crosby, in Downing street, and putin bed,
whence she has never been removed save for
q few minutes at a time. This was early In
1865. Very soon after the accident she I'M
derwent most astonishing physical changes.
| Her nervous system was uncomfortable when
ever she was In any manner excited, while
she was absolutely paralyzed at other times.
| In succession she was bereft of vision, speech
and hearing. From violent spasms she drift
ed into trance-like state. from which it re-
| quired the unremitting efforts of physicians
| and friends to arouse her. At the expiration
of twenty days her faculties were all restored.
For half an hour she saw, articulated and
listened. Then these three senses deserted
| her again, and within ten more days her I'm
| gers became clenched, her jaws locked, her
limbs twisted. Spasms were thereafter more
| frequent and violent. The days slipped away
| into weeks before she YVES able to keep any
food on her stomach, and it was just short of
| two months that she was without nourish
ment. Then very light food was one day
given her with seemingly beneficial results.
! She has eaten altogether since that day
nearly thirteen years ago-not so much food
in the aggregate az an ordinarily healthful
| girl of her age would eat in forty-eight
| hours.
NINE YEARS OF TRANCE.
| Three months and half after the accident
| she went into rigid trance for twenty one
hours, and then passed into a relaxed trance
that lasted for three days. Her throat became
| paralyzed. and she could neither swallow nor
utter a sound. Her right arm doubled up
back Of her head, and became fixed there
| with the rigidity of death. A year later this
condition was followed by absolute rlgidity Of
body, with the exception of the left acm and
| hand, which she was able to use. This latter
condition lasted for nine years, in all of which
time she was continually drifting into and out
| of frances. She continued to be blind, the
pupils of the eyes beng rolled upward, and
the whites only visible when the lids were
parted for examination. Very tightly indeed
were the lids sealed, and with difficulty were
they opened. She had the power of speech,
however, all of the time, although it left her
at intervals. Three years ago the rigidity
Of her body relaxed, and sight and hear
ing were restored. Her present condi- |
ton is blindness, the eyelids closed, the |
pupils sightless and staring, laxity of
body, save in her right arm, that remains
rigid and doubled as above described; inabil- |
ity to take nouTishment, with no desire for it |
except at long intervals, when she puts bit |
OF fruit or candy IN her mouth for a short |
time and then rejects it; torpidity of the sys- |
tenn, with sluggish pulsation and not vigor- !
Gus respiration, cheerfulness, with increasing |
constituencies to being made the theme of /
public gossip, and to receiving strangers; |
enlargement of the heart and soreness in the |
ribs that were broken by the fall from |
horse; rheumatic and neuralgia pains; fire. |
quent changes in bodily state, with tendency |
toward pulmonary troubles, power Of speech |
and of hearing.
TESTIMONY THAT CANNOT BE IMPUGNED.
During all these thirteen years, though |
blind, she has read with perfect ease. she |
has from the first been able TO sec and de-
scribe acts and persons far removed from her |
bedside. At times she has been transformed |
into cheerful, vivacious, intelligent, enter |
tanning young woman, and then she has re-
lapsed into speechlessness, blindness, deaf
ness and entire paralysis of the senses. She
has developed most astonishing powers, re"
semb!ing second sight of clarivoyance, read
ing with ease the contents of sealed letters,
describing articles in hidden packages, perus-
ing books while absolutely blind. Sometimes
her powers are voluntary, at other times they
ishment has she taken that it may be said
she lives without food. She is surrounded
by persons of social standing and refinement,
and has always been exceedingly sensitive to
any public mention or knowledge Of her con-
dItiou. She has ever repelled any effort to
couple her manifestations with those of CLAIR
voyapke, has begged to be allowed to live and
die in the retiretsenS Ct her home, unmo-
Tested by strangers and accessible only to her
friends. Clergynlen, physicians, men of
letters and of intelligence, have vis-
tied her. kul2pg many who have
taken a special interest in heT are Rev.
Dr. Joseph 4 bD1Pysa, pastor bOro q the GaSf9n
Henry J. Van byc4, pastor of the Clinton
street Presbyterian church, Brof. Charles =.
West, principal of the Brooklyn Heights
SEMINARY; George ", Benson. Henry II.
Parkhurst, the astrepopef, anf host Of
others. DR.. Duryea has suggested that Hiss
Fancher's mind has been freed from the b'n-
dage of the body, and that if not governed by
neg Jaws it Is at all events qulckenea and en-
larged. mf. Henry M. Parkhurst relates
that he has s6en her sec;Dhar letters That
EeSr born in pieces and eealed m an envelope.
INeIBEx4s OF aEys lEIRAcUtot's FowEE.
The faculty that the yesag Iad7' 3 friends
have most frequently noticed III her is that OF
following some Of her acquaintances-those
who are dearest to her as a ruie~-trom place
10 kSfaS@~s = IhhE0uS VI IluleS suo has uOue
this with Rebfeeiy Ill e1-Or as to place or &C.
currence. For example, enc asteraGoa ghe
suddenly said: 81 see -. mentioning tue
gentem@s'G nanoe) in his Office. (The Office
was in New York; de iS closing his desk.
(Attsf 6ye minutes pause lie is walking
.s2aep f'qit9a stfeet. lArother pause.l Nov
he IS -"'.'R slgoR t.ls fafEzboat-now he h,9,. is
getting into !. Eait0H aEep4fs e. :l, gish
him is a tall gentlema- 'if I er.'s fsI6;pg
black hair and mustache-they a. |
and the car has started Now they are
passing the city hall. There, the tall gentle.
maa has got out of the car at st. Felix street
and - is coming on alone. He, too, has
got out Of the car and is coming this way-I
guess he is coming here. Yes, he is; here
he comes around the corner; look out and
you will see him. and looking from the
window the gentleman referred to was in
deed seen approaching at rapid pace and
was soon in the room.
Whom did you ride up with ?" was asked
by one of the persons to whom Miss Fancher
had been describing the ride.
"Mr. -."
Describe him.
Tall, black hair, mustache and eyes; he
left me at St Felix street-why?"
"Mollle has been watching you for three
quarters of an hour or so, and has been tell
ing us about this tall man. You had better
be careful how you carry yourself" was the
reply.
The illustration of Miss Fancher's powers
Of sightseeing that her friends tell of with
the greatest interest are of the return of her !
uncle Isaac from California and the welcome
home, and some time afterward, of lost pet
Jog. Her uncle, Mr.. Isaac Crosby, went to
California before the accident to Miss Fan
cher, and while she was comparatively lit
lie girl. He was strong, healthy and robust,
with full face and big chest While in
California he contracted consumption, and,
nine years after his arrival there, returned to
Brooklyn, and first of all sought Mrs. Cros-
BY, with whom Miss Fancher lives. Prof.
West, her old instructor, and Mrs. Crosby
sat in her room when the door-bell was
rung. Mrs. Crosby started to answer the ,
summons, and, as she stepped from the
room, Miss Fancher exclaimed in astonished
zones: ''Whv, it's Uncle Ikei''