River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1881-02-10
DYING FROM STARVATION.
a Distressing scene i'm the War De
partnient. with n Happy Ending.
Washington Post

Yesterday afternoon, about 1890
o. clock, a well dressed man of very
genteel appearance entered the war
department, and ascending by the ele-
vator to the second floor, alighted
When in front of the secretary's door,
he was seen to stagger, and then fell
helplessly on the marble thing He
was found to be unconscious, and was
carried by the messengers to an adioin-
ing room and laid on the lounge. DIR.
Lowe, from upstairs, was summoned,
and, as soon as he saw the Unconscious
stranger he at once said -" Why, the
man is starving" tie had partially
regained his consciousness, but was
still ia stupor. The doctor at once
called for brandy, which the man at
first refused to take, as it was after
ward found, from temperance scrup-
Piles. A glass of diluted brandy was,
however, placed to his mouth, and his
jaws closed upon it with such force as
to nearly shatter the glass. A sand
wich was then offered him, which he
seized with avidity and was about to
swallow it all without mastication, when
he was prevented. The sandwich was
fed to him in small pieces, which he ate
like famished beast, and then Sc
cond sandwich. He was then fed with
some oyster soup and removed up
stairs, where he at once went TO sleep.
He awoke in the course of an hour.
feeling much better, but still weak.
The doctor said that he was suffering
from irritation of the stomach, caused
by the gastric juice working on e
walls of his stomach He was in the
first stages of starvation and his pulse
had run down to forty-two. After he
recovered sufficient strength to talk,
he told the circumstances by which he
had been reduced to such a miserable
condition. AT the same time he evin-
ced great anxiety that the matter
should not be made public. His con-
versation showed him to be a man of
education and culture, as his clothes
indicated. He said that he belonged to
a respectable family residing near
Boston. He had been in the army
during the war, and lost an arm in the
service. Since the war he has been
practicing medicine in his native town,
but becoming unpopular for the decid-
ed stand he took on the temperance
question, he determined come to this
and begin the practice ofmedicine here.
At the same time he applied for q
clerkship in the war department. His
sister, an invalid, accompanied him,
and they resided on Seventh street,
where he opened an office. Soon az
ter his arrival his funds began to fail,
and he had no means of replenishing
them. He found that he could not
purchase food enough for both, and so
invented an excuse for not eating with
his sister that he got his meals down
town. This device worked well, and
his sister was completely deceived He
brought home food for her to eat, but
was slowly starving himself Yester-
day he spent his last money in the
purchase of bone, from which his
sister made soup, but he refused to
take any. He said that the night be-
fore he attended a meeting of Mas
onic lodge, but was too proud to reveal
his condition and ask for help. His
appearance and manner gave the i'm
press of truth to his statement. His
war record was looked up and found to
be an honorable one. His case was
brought to the attention of the secretary
of war and he appointed him to a clerk
ship in the surgeon generals office,
The circumstance excited great interest
in the department.