The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1881-01-13
AN AWFUL DEATH
Follows the Savage Bite of
a Rabid Cur.
A Prominent Magistrate and In
fiuential Citizen Attacked
with HydrOphobia
And After Five Days of Excru.
ciating Agony Expires in
Horrible Commissions.

cIat1ng agony Expires In
Horrible Commissions.
We are called upon this week tt
record one of the most shocking
and distressing events that has eve
come within our journalistic pur
view. We refer to the death from
hydrophobia, on Sunday last, o.
James G. Hannah, ESQ.,, OF Camp
bellsville, a prominent magistrate
and one of the most substantial and
influential citizens of Giles county
The dreadful malady to which be
fell victim is one that spreads ter
ror abroad and leaves an appalling
sense of horror in every breast. It's
inevitably fatal progress, attended
by mental and physical agonies that
no pen can describe and no medical
skill can relieve, shakes every fibre
Of the human heart and arouses 8
feeling of indefinable dread which
is even more powerful than the
strong current OF sympathy it
eVokes. In this particular instance
the circumstances are so distress
ing, SO acutely heartrendIng, that
the task of relating them is more
than ordinarily painful.
Knowing the anxiety our readers
would naturally feel to hear all the
particulars, and being DESTROYS OF
giving them with absolute accuracy,
including the medical aspects of the
case, we induced one of our most
intelligent physicians, DR.. G. ALT.
Alternately, to go to .Campbellsville
Tuesday as a representative of the
CITIZEN and consult with the at
tending physicians and friends of
the deceased, with view. to obtain
Ing all the facts. He entered into
the work with characteristic intelli-
gence and zeal and with the kind
assistance of DR.. j. H. Campbell,
one of the attending physicians, was
able to furnish us with full report.
Our readers will doubtless remem
Der that an account of the biting Of
Mr.. Hannah by vicious dog, sup
posed to be mad, was furnished by
the Campbellsville correspondent of
the CITIZEN at the time of the &C.
currence, but as no very serious re.
suits were then apprehended, full
particulars were not given. We
deem it proper. therefore, to go
over the ground again and recite all
the facts.
At about dusk, on the evening of
the 22d of November last, Mr.. Han
nah, upon entering his barn to sta
BILE the horse of a visitor, discov-
cred large dog inside, reared upon
it's hind legs with its fore-teet
pressed against the door. A sharp
command to get ont failing to at
tract the animals attention, he
threw a corn cob at it. In an in
slant it sprang at his throat and as
he threw out his arm to ward
off the attack the rabid beast
caught his left hand in its
mouth and with a vicious crunch
buried its tusks between the index
and middle fingers, decorating and
tearing the flesh in horrible man
ner. Mr.. Hannah, who was a man
OF great nerve, grasped the dog
with his right hand, and, regardless
OF the pain and liberation the effort
caused, tore his other hand from its
mouth. He then drew his knife
and deliberately cut the animals
throat. The dog. it seems, be
longed to Mr.. James Colvet, q
neighbor, who had no reason TO be-
lieve 1t was mad. 1t left his prem
ises on that day and went to the
farm of Mr.. Robert Hannah, a son
of the deceased, where it bit a cat
and a calf. The cat was killed and
the calf was afterward found dead 10
q pasture. 1t then ran over to Esq
Hannah's place, entered the kitchen
and bit a cat, but was driven out,
when it ran in the direction of the
barn. Mr.. Hannah knew nothing
Of these facts, however, until after
he was bitten
After killing the dog, Mr.. Han
nah returned to his house and sum
moned DIR. j. H. Campbell, a skillful
physician of the neighborhood, in
the meantime bathing his wounds,
which were bleeding quite freely, IN
warm water. DR.. Campbell, upon
arrival, excised all the lacerated
pieces of flesh, some of which
were hanging in flaps, and the
parts which the teeth had pen
etrated, and then cauterized the
whole with nitrate of silver, leaving
the patient comparatively easy.
The wounds seemed to heal kindly,
with the exception of that near the
joint of the middle finger which
scabbed over, secreting a little vi
tiated pus, which exuded under the
pressure OF the finger, and re-
manned there until the symptoms OF
hydrophobia appeared. From the
time he was bitten until two days
before his death, when unmis-
taxable symptoms of the rabies
were developed, a period of for
ty-six days, Mr.. Hannah's health
was as good as usual, and he
seemed to be cheerful and appa
rently not at all apprehensive of the
terrible fate which awaited him
His family and friends, it is true,
felt uneasy, but he did not appear
to share their alarm, and as his
hand gradually healed even their
apprehensions vanished. Mr.. Han.
nah attended the county court
on the first Monday, and was then.
to all outward appearances, cheer
full and in good health. That eve
ming the Incipient symptoms of his
malady manifested themselves, and
we furnish the history of their prog
ress and fatal termination from the
report gathered by DIR. Alternately
from Doctor Campbell, who, with
Doctor Herbert, attended the case
and exhausted all the resources OF
medical skill in administering to
the affiic'ed man.
On Monday night, January 4th
Mr.. Hannah's hand gave hin
slight pain, which radiateu from the
wound up the radlsl, ulmar aud
madam narveo a far aa tho shnnl