The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1879-05-30
A TRUE TALE OF HORROR.

The Condemned Cell, the GaIiows, the
Dissecting- Room, the Electrical Machine
and the Escape.
From the New York Evening Postl
DR. Lambert, the man who restores
drowned people to life by the applica
ton of heat, while leaving this Office
yesterday afternoon, stepped into the
reporters room. Busy as were their
pencils, their scent for news was keener
"And if man has been hanged, doc
tor, can he, too, be restored by heat?'
asked one of the most inquisitive among
them, upon whom the new method for
resuscitating the drowned had made a
deep impression.
The doctor, who had never looked
better in his life, answered mildly:
"Why not?"
But what if his neck is broken p
asked a muscular reporter.
Hanging doesn't break mans neck.
did you ever see a man hanged p
demanded the youth, with the into
nation of man who had devoted a
century or SO to sightseeing of that
sort.
Several times" answered the man
slowly.
What does hanged man hang his
head over on one side for, then-so?"
Not because his neck is dislocated.
The igatures of the neck are stronger
than any rope. Hanging never yet
broke a neck. It's the shock that tends
to kill the man-the shock and, then,
the suffocation. You know how it
shocks your brain to make a misstep
when going down stairs. Well, there are
$4,000 springs that your head rests on
from the neck to the feet, But when
you jerk man up by the neck the
shock comes without any intervention
of springs"
IL have heard doctors say that mans
neck was broken by hanging" persist
ed the muscular man.
so have I-young doctors. But
surgical science does not report such
case"
go, well, now you're on science, I'll
give ill.," and the modest muscular re-
porter withdrew step and filed his
pipe. His forte is facts straight.
Did you ever see a hanged man
come to life, doctor?" asked doubling
Thomas.
"Yes, I have"
All ears bent perceptibiy toward the
speaker, and there was silence as in
death.
"A young fellow began the doctor,
was condemned to be executed. Dur
ing his incarceration he promised his
body to the prison physician in return
for the tobacco that he used. When
he was dead the physician determined
to try an electrical machine on him,
but, never having handled one, called
me in to help him. l went. We APP
piled electricity to various parts of the
body, and wherever it was applied the
body moved. At length we sent cur
rent along the spine from end to end.
The fellow was lying on long table
as long as-well Cooking around the
room, rather longer than any you've
got here. He sat up; opened his eyes
slowly; shut them; then opened them
wide. The physician, who owned the
body, and two young men who were
helping him started affrighted for the
door"
did the man come round all right?"
inquired the Thomas reporter, earn
estly.
HE didn't lie down again. In half
an hour he spoke-asked where he was
and what we were doing with him. In
a couple of houls he was on his way out
of the villa as fast as his legs could
carry him."
did they catch him AGAIN."
"No. The inhabitants to this day
think that he was dissected."
Ought he to have been hanged if he
had been caught?"
"Well, there's difference of opinion
about that. Certainly the physician
owned him-had bought and paid for
him."
would it have been wrong, doctor,
for the physician to Kill him, when he
saw him coming to life and robbing
him of his property"
The reporter who asked the question
is one of the most bloodthirsty persons
in this city. The doctor wisely replied
by saying that the answer belonged to
the department of morals, in which he
was not professor.