Daily Republican., 1879-08-06
WANTS TO SELL HIS BODY.

WANTS TO SELL HID BODY.
A SeIf-Sacriflciug Y0nng MAI
In This City Wishes % BseOm<
subject For Professional In
vestlgatisn Beiug Modest HI
Only Wants Three MundRed
Dollars ~ . COnsfaerstioHi- :
| A BPeaihinx Physissl HAk@fAn'
ems.
An active rational man desiring u
dispose Of mis- body tor three hundred
dollars is something which 3 well bal
ancsd healthy intellect can hardly com
prehend. But it is so. A REPUBLICAN
reporter found him yesterday afternoon
as the slaughter yards engaged in do
ing chores around the various sstab'
lishments. .aEssg tr I...
':John H. Coleman by name and re-
siding q: No. 203 Tatnall street ?" w
addressed him. sj}
Eyes; the same" was the reply
given in tone Of voice that plainly
indicated the deep curiosity our ques
ftion raised within him. (
While standing there We noted him.
He was lightly built, dressed 10 blue
shirt and black pants with the bottoms
Of the latter showed into the tops of q
capacious pair of boots. His weight ii
about ninety five pounds he Is sbsu1
thiIty-two years Of age, and stands five
feet four inches high. His complexion
ia rather dark and over his countsnance
there is constantly fitting an expires.
sion as if he WAS eDdeavoring to catch
a breath. His wan face spoke palmer
than any words he might have uttered,
and the quick gasping cough clearly
indicated that the man vas chronic
sufferer.
"Well"" he exclaimed, as II impa-
tient at our inspection.
"This curious desire Of yours to sell
your body; is it true!" We asked,
Quickly recovering. 1T is, SIR" he re-.
piled earnestly.
Aud then followed his reasons, to.
gether with short sketch o! his life,
He had been in the war and was en-.
listed in lst Delaware Regimsnt, Com
pany A., Captain Watson commanding.
He was engaged in several of the fer.
csst battles OF the war, and was taken
prisoner at Cool Arbor, the second day
Of June, 1864, and was confined in An.
Jacksonville prison. Here he was one
of those doomed to that Systematic
scheme of wholesale starvation the like
of which has not its equal in all the
annals Of barbarism. Here he was i'm
mared for nine months and fifteen days.
The incidents Of those drsary mouths
are still fresh upon his memory; con
fined in enclosures not 6t for beasts Of
the field with the dying forms Of com
rades lying around him. The air foe.
It'd with poisonous vapor arising from
great masses Of human filth, and heavy
with stencil too intolsrabls TO be borne.
The meagrs pittance Of pint Of meal
for every twenty four hours, coarse and
unpalatabls being his only fare and a
small quantity Of water highly injuri-
Jus and ottentimes stagnant and filled
with worms and insects, being his only
drink. Though sick and despairing he
lived on whils hundreds in mad deli
rum, writhing in the agony Of their
despair rather than endure the torment,
threw themselves over the death line
and were shot down by their brutal
guard. Around him on every hand
was madness, maniacal madness-a de-
spondsncy thatknew no gleam of hope;
an idiocy which under the pressure Of
hardship and actual brutality bloomed
out in the passiveness of despairing
resignation which when approached re-
vealed beneath the msllowed guiss the
deadly impulse that lay intent in its
bosom and the poor maddened being
like brute was dragged forth and shot
as a rebellious captive. All this and
more he beheld until his soul became
hardened at the sight.
On the fourth Of March, 1865 he, was
released. He stepped out free man,
but so broken down in body as we'll as
mind that he for time despaired of
ever reaching home in this city. The
prison pens of Andersonville, those
pestiential spots fatal to so many
Union soldiers. had implanted in his
bosom the germs of disease which in
all human proba eility will bear him to
the grave.
1t is the same affliction under which
he Is at present suffering. 1t has now
bAen Is years since his sad experience
in the prison pens of the South; and
during that time he has lived drsary
existence, not knowing but what each
succeeding moment would be his last.
He mas consulted eminent medical ex-
perts, but no diagnosis has ever been
thorough enough to relieve the
cause Of his complaint from the uneer-
tain mystery which envelopes it.
Within the past Is years over thous
and dollars have been expended by
him, but without the least success
He has given himself up and he now
with his physicians considers himself
physical phenomena, the solution of
which can only be arrived at after
death and only then by close analy-
sis of his interior and a through inv.s
tigation of the relative effect that one
part of his anatomy has upon the other.
Medical consultations over him have
been frequent and the only. result ef-
fe ted has been decided and widely
differing expression of opinion in rela-
tion to his disease. Some attribute it
to an affection of the heart, some to the
liver while others say it is caused by
nervous debility. Upon him doctors
disagree and the variety of opinions are
of the most positive nature.
In describinghis disease he said that
at all times there is a feeling of sufo.
cation about him. He cannot drink for
the pain the fluid causes. He eats
heartily but he has no taste and cannot
distinguish fiavors, II is impossible