Daily Kennebec journal., 1881-04-15
NO. 90.

tempt at starvation became noised abroad,
there were many applications to visit her,
and the Avlworths were besieged with letters
and communications. The curious, how
ever were completely snubbed. and strict or
ders were given that only members of the fam
lily and the most intimate friends should be
permitted to see Miss Duell. As was to be
expected. the disappointed ones vented their
indignation in the attempt to rouse public
feeling against what was stgmatized as the
cooperation of the Aylworths in creating
victim for the Coroner. The better feeling
of this community. however. was opposed to
any legal interference, particularly as med
ical experts had pronounced Miss Duell per-
fectlv sane. Five days after beginning her
fast Miss Duell wrote with her pencil, 'Do
you think it woaid prolong my life to drink
water =" The question was addressed to DIR.
Avlworth, and he replied that fever and de-
lirum would probably set in unless she drank
a little water daily. After that she called for
water. and sucked a small quantity through
glass tube several times every ~ hours. Up
to the thirty-fourth dav, food had been placed
at her bedside regularly, but as the sight OF
it only aroused her anger, the practice was
on tins day discontinued She was At
that time wasted TO a skeleton. her nose was
thin and pinched. her checks were ho-
low, and her skin was an unusually dark
color. 1t was predicted that she could not
survive more than a few hours longer. She,
however. seemed to think the end was farther
away, for, on recovering from n deathly
faint, she wrote the question, "Do you think
| am going To live always" In reply TO the
questions of her friends she said that she suf-
fered no pain whatever
On the forticth dav she was living in a COM
atose state much of the time, though appar-
emily sleeping very little. Her mental fac
ulties were unimpaired however, for when
reused she became fully conscious of what
was Occurring around her. Her physical
condition was much detcriorated and she was
now weak and utterly helpless Her pulse
beat between 30 and 100. there were no signs
of fever. and apparently none of pain. One
of the singular observations of this fortieth
day the fact that her breathing. which
all along had been normal, suddenly
changed to between II and l5 resprations
per minute. She was thought to he dy-
ing. but recovered sufficiently to indicate
that she had lost none of her determina-
ton, for when the subject Of food was intro
duced by one Of her attendants. she shook her
head and a nauseated expression came over
her face, much to the surprise of the phvsi-
clans, who had been closely watching her
symptoms. On the forty fourth day she raj
lied little, and appeared somewhat stronger.
Her pulse on this dav was more variable than
at any other time during the fast, rising to
100, and then SLOWLY ebbing again to q very
low point On the following day, DIR. +. w.
Peck, Of Davenport. made a thorough exam
ination of her condition, and reported that he
found her very much reduced, but not more
so than in the case of a patient with long
fever. The idea of compelling her TO swal-
low food was again broacbcd. but the doctor
gave it as his opinion that the only result of
such an attempt would he to make her n raw
ing maniac. Several times on Sunday she
managed to make her friends understand that
her head was so hot that she appeared to be
on fire. At midnight it was observed that
she was sinking fast, and at l2.45 o'clock she
breathed her last