The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1880-04-08
A CHASTITY GHOUL.
A chronological Freak Most Fright
fully Finished,


showed that the head of the corpse
was missing. What led to the dis
covery was the finding of a human
jawsbone by Fred. Auer, a farmer,
who lived near the county grave
yard, some eight miles from the
city, where the body was buried
The fact that only the head was
taken threw suspicion on an anna
teur phrenologist named Gordon
Truesdale. TrGesdale occupied a
small farm in the vicinity with his
wife and family OF four girls, the
oldest not more shan s years old.
He was a handsome, broad-shoul
dered fellow, with a fair education,
but lazy and shiftless. His great
hobby was phrenology, and he oc-
casionally lectured on that subject
In country schcol-houses. His am
bition to possess a collection of
skulls was well known in the neigh
borhood, and the desecration OF the
Platt girls grave was laid at his
door, although he was never openly
charged with it.
About three weeks ago Truesdale
went to a physician and asked if a
person could become poisoned in
handling a dead body. He received
an affirmative reply, and appeared
to be much troubled. He com
planned to his wife that his nose
panied him terribly, and he believed
he was taking the erysipelas. He
began doctorIng himself with
bread-and milk poultlces, but with
out success. His face began to
swellrapidly, and in less than three
days it and his head became twice
their natural size, and lost all sem
blance Of human shape. A physi
clan was called in against the wishes
of Truesdale. He found the man
suffering terribly. His lips were
drawn by the tension of the skin,
and writhed themselves away from
the teeth in unceasing pain. The
cuticle across the bridge of the nose
and over the forehead was so dis
tended with the Inattery substance
underneath that it seemed as if it
must burst every moment. The
eyes were swollen almost to burst
ing from their sockets, and were
turned with pain, until hardly any
thing but the whites could be seen.
1t was evident that terrible poison
was slowly, but surely, permeating
the mans whole system.
The physician, after careful ex-
animation of the unwilling patient,
cut open his skin from about the
center of his nose almost to the
roots of his hair, and then made
another cut across the forehead al
most from temple to temple. From
these missions there oozed a mass
of loathsome, destable putrescence,
so terrible in it's stencil that the at
tendants, save one, ran from the
house. Other missions were made
in different parts of the scalp, from
which the hair had been shaved, and
from these this terribly offensive
matter oozed constantly, until the
swelling was reduced and the head
and face assumed nearly their nor
NAL size. Attempts were then made
to free the incisions of matter by
water into them. 1t was
noticed that when water was forced
into the cut in the forehead it
poured out of the holes in the scalp.
AS one of the attendants said, sit
seemed as if all the flesh between
the skin and bone had turned into
corruption and ran out"
When Mr.. Truesdale was told
that he could not possibly recover,
he called his wife into the roomand
confessed to her that he robbed the
Platts girls grave, and referred to a
certain night when he left the house
and refused to tell her where he
went as the time when he commit
ted the crime. He said that he dug
down to the head of the coffin,
broke it open, and taking his knife,
cut around the neck of the corpse
through the flesh to the bone He
then placed one of his feet on the
breast of the corpse, and taking the
head in his hands, pulled and
jerked and twisted it until it came
off by mere force, He afterwards
disjointed the lower jaw and threw
1t where Fred. Auer found it. He
closed his confession by telling
where the skull would be found,
under the straw in a certain man
ger in the stable. 1t was found
there and given up to the Platts
family.
The last three days of Truesdale's
existence were terrible, not only TO
himself but to those who watched
him. The poison from some corpse
(for it is believed he had recently
opened several graves), which was
communicated to his system by
picking a raw spot on the inside of
his nose,sppeared to course through
every vein in his body. Not only
was his person offensive to the eye,
but the odor and heat of his breath
was so offensive that it was impos-
sible for the attend :nts to wait on
him properly. The breath was so
poisonous that when one of the at
PENDANTS held his hand six inches
from the dying mans mouth it
stung the flesh like hundreds of
nettles. Those who waited on him
were obliged to wear gloves, as it
was impossible to wash the odor
from their hands. The day he died
his flesh was so rotten that it
seemed as if it would drop from the
bones if touched, and his eyes act
utally decayed until they became
sightless.
For two days before his death a
coffin had been in readiness, and
the orders of the physician were 10
place him in it as soon as the breath
left his body, and get him under
ground Immediately. After his
death none OF the attendants had
the temerity to touch the corpse,
for fear OF being poisoned, so they
gathered the : 9 on which the
body lay at cac I'd, and thus lift
ed it into the Collin. L he lid was
quickly screwed down, but before a
wagon could be procured the body
sweIled and burst it of. 1t was
then strapped on, but when the cof
g 4, .roS faEan fr~>p, tho uo non at the