The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1882-09-22
STRUCK DUMB WITH FEAR.
A WOMAN LOSE. HKR VOICE FOR TWO WEEKS.

A WOMAN LosRA HKR VOICE FOR TWO WEEKS
Mrs. Mary Cooper, young woman who
lives on the Summerton pike, In the Twenty
third ward, few rods from the Bustieton
schoOl-hOuse, has suddenly recovered her
speech, having been struck dumb by fright
for two weeks. Mrs. Cooper was able yes
terday to relate the particulars Of the strange
occurrence and her impressions during the
time she remained speechless.
She says that on Friday, the Ist day Of
September, man in q terrible condition OF
drunkenness and suffering from violent ma
mia potu, ran into ber house. followed by a
mob Of men and boys. She Is subject to fits
Of hysteria, and the drunken man frightened
her so badly that she fell down In a spAsm,
and thinks that some person In the excite
ment Of the chase stepped on her neck. At
any rate, when she was restored to con-
seriousness she was borriied to find that she
could not speak a word-ln fact that she had
been stricken as dumb as II her tongue had
been torn from her mouth. After the first
day all OF the nervousness consequent upon
the spasm disappeared, and she was quite as
well as usual and able to attend to her usual
duties about the house, but every effort she
made to speak caused violent pains in her
throat and about the roots Of her tongue. -
She finally came to the conclusion that she
would never be able to talk again, although
DR.. Byers, a prominent physician of Bustle-
ton, was attending her and told her that he
hoped that hsr af1liction wolld be but tenn
porary. Day after day passed, however,
and, although she could hear perfectly well,
md 81 q
than usual, every effort to articulate a syllable
was In vain. At times she would find her
self involuntarily trying to speak, but only
iumbled gutteTaI sound followed Whenev-
er she made an attempt to utter a word or
make sound violent pains in her lungs and
throat and in the back Of her neck followed,
until finally she determined to make no more
efforts. A great many curious people came
| to see her, and some people supposed that
she was putting it all on" She at last re-
fused to see any one, and settled down to
the bitter conclusion that she would never
recover her lost voice, and even began to
learn the dumb alphabet in order 70 convey
her wishes to her sister, who lived with her.
In the meantime she used such signs as sug-
/ gested themselve to her. DR.. Byers came to
CSSt%oAOAAfAAAf
| tion. which did not at first seem TO relieve
! her, but she thinks now that 1t eased the
/ pain in her throat. She describes her efforts
to speak as like person sick with pleurisy
when he desired to take long breath. at
night she would be aroused from sleep by
| pains in her throat, due to involuntary eff
| forts to speak while she was dreaming. Her
| sister thus describes what happeend when
! Mrs. Cooper first spoke MY sister had
gone to bed at about nine O'Clock in the ev-
ening, and at 10 o'clock went up stairs my
self. We sleep together, and when l first
went In the room there was no light there,
| and could hear my sister breathing heavily,
as if in nightmare. did not at once dis
turb her, but removed my clothing. l then
aroused my sister in order to break what !
thought was bad dream, and she awoke
with start l said Mary, what's the mat
| ter?' / could not see much in the room at
the time, and was frightened almost out OF
my senses by hearing some Ole exclaim in a
| deep voice You get In bed ] thought it
was a man under the bed. and ran down
stairs screaming 'thievesP What 1 had
| heard did not sound like my sisters voice,
! and having become accustomed to consider
| her dumb, l was terribly frightened. In a
moment, however, saw my sisters head at
! the stair door and she was trying to speak.
| Finally, with an effort, she said Tt was l.
l can now talk / could hardly believe It. -
! at this point Mrs. Cooper took up the
| thread of the story. She said that when she
had been aroused by her sister she did not
! think about her af1iction; she was about
half asleep, and inyoluntarily spoke. at
| was," she said, "almost like tearing my
throat to pieces when the sound came
| There was sensation like needles being
stuck into my chest and lungs. and the pain
was terrible. After the first shock felt re-
| lieved and found that l could talk a little,
although the effort still caused me some pain. ,
| Gradually the pain subsided. and now Mrs
| Cooper talks quite freely, but still with con-
| siderable difficulty. She will occasionally
! stop in the middle of sentence, OF Of a
! word, and take long breath.
DR.. Byers, who attended the woman, says
that the circumstances surrounding the case
are very peculiar, but that instances Of peo-
pie suddenly losing their voice and their
hearing are on record, although they are
few. he attributes Mrs. Cooper's trouble
to partial paralysis Of the vocal organs. He
fully substantiated Mrs. Cooper's story
The people about BustletoD have been excl
ted for some time over the singular case, but
every one gives Mrs. CoOper's story full Gre
dence. She is a good looking woman, slight
ly built and is known to be industrious and
thorOugly reliable Philadelphia Record 7th.