Smyrna times., 1879-03-05
A Terrible Death.
THE SINGULAR ACCIDENT WHICH COMPELLED
MAN TO STARYE TO DEATH-PANIFUI. CON
SEQUENCES OF SWALLOWING HIS FALSE
TEETH-SEVEN WEEKS WITHOUT

NJ. n.

TEETH-sEvEN WEEKS WITHOUT
FOOD.
PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 25.-According to
the report of Il local paper man died here
on the 4th inst, under very singular cir
cumstanCes. His name was Levi Wagon
seller. lie was thirty eight years of age
and was employed in cotton factory at
Fairmount. One evening in December last
he entered Chestnut street restaurant to
get supper. When about half through he !
suddenly felt something sharp and pointed
going down his throat, causing him intense
pain. For moment he thought he had |
swallowed a large Jagged piece of bone, but |
putting his hand to his mouth nstinctivcly |
on feeling the pain, he found that his false
teeth were missing, and he knew it must |
have been they which had gone down his |
throat. The teeth were three in number |
They were fastened &c a silver plate, and |
had been i'll his mouth for many years |
Recently the hooks holding them in place |
had worn loose, and the artificial teeth had |
annoyed him by falling from his mouth
several times. Plate and all had gone
down his throat, and he could feel them
lodged against his breast. Alarmed and
suffering intensely, Wagonseller went to
his home, which was in a suburb of the city
(lIestonville), in Pax>on street, between
Fifty first and Fifty second. He could cat
no solid tood and for two days took no
solid food into his stomach. On the third
day he managed TO force down a. little
bread and milk. On this day the sufferer
went to the University Hospital to see DR..
Agnew, who, after examining him seemed
to have little hope Of saving his life.
WagOnseller then came to Philadelphia
=, g.
was called upon to visit the patient on the
fifth day after the occurrence. He advised
him to take a swallow cf gin rs the readiest
means Of dislodging the teeth, which still
| remained in the throat The patient fol
lowed his advice, and almost Immediately
felt the teeth going down. But this only
led to worse result. The teeth moved
down and lodged about one inch and a half
! above the entrance to Lhe stomach. Had
! they passed into the stomach, according to
medical authority, the che! danger in the
| case would have been over. But lodging
| as they did the patient could swallow moth
ing, not even milk or water. 1t was abso-
! luteiy impossible to get anything down his
| throat. Milk was recommended, but when
it would tie poured down as soon as the
glass would be removed from his lips it
kwould come back, exuding from ears, eyes.
mouth and nostrils. The strangest of all
was what followed. The man lived for
seven weeks without swallowing a morsel
of food or a drop of water. Even the Juice
of an orange he could not swallow. From
a stout, hearty man, weighing probably 100
pounds, he dwindled away to a mere skele-
ton. His hands became horrible to look at
by reason of their loss cf flesh. Strangely
enough, too, all this time the man, who was
4
appetite, no craving for food. The smell OF
victuals, he said, made him sick. From
the time he went to his sisters house, -four
days after the accident, he had not stood
on his feet, lying alternately on bed and
in an invalid's chair. This posture he kept
at the recommendation of his physician
until from lack of food he became SO weak
ened that there was no option in the matter
and he had to lie all the time. Operation
! with an instrument was suggested by hi
physician, but this his sister would no
t consent to, unless assurance could be giver
that it would result III saving his life
F, This, of course, the physician could no
+ promise, and no such operation was tried
}, After being for over seven weeks with
0 out food Wagonseller died. death resultin,
= from inanitiOn, or, in other words, starva
ton. TO the very last lie had no appetite
for food. The day before his death he be
e gan to get short of breath and told his re
n latives that he felt himself dying. Up t
0 the last hour he retained his senses an,
talked freely about his case, instructing hi
G relatives to have postmortem examine
C ton upon his body. In accordance witt
l. his request the examination was made b
y Drs. Stewart and Agnew. The plate, wit
S the teeth in it, was found about one inc
n and a half above the entrance of tn
1t stomach the hooks firmly imbedded in tn
10 flesh. There were marks at certain inte
walls in the throat, showing the progress
D, the plate as it passed downward, the print
ID of the teeth being in several places plainl
es visible Had the plate, which was aboi
IN two inches long and an inch wide, passe
"a into the stomach, in the opinion of til
r. physician it would have dissolved and IL
lg mans life been saved. AS it was, the pla
ar passed down the throat in traverse forr
rE and once lodged at the furtherest poin
~ displacement was impossible.
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