The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-12-09

test was too unequal to last. | wa,
thrown upon the floor and Fritz's kneC
was on my breast. The next instant &
keen sensation of pain encircled my
neck. The warm blood gushed forth
My vision grew indistinct Objects faded
gradually into nothingness state into
which my own being speedily sank.
awoke to consciousness to find my.
self trunkless head! There lay nv de
capitated body, spectacle from which
l might have turned away had | pos
sessed the power. Fritz with some
machine was pumping my blood through
a tube into an artery of my neck, while
the wires of galvanic battery sent &
current through my brain that fairly
made it Jingle, strcve to cry out, but
quickly realized the truth of Fritz
statement touching the Indispensable
ness of lungs to the performance of the
vocal functions. | could not utter a
sound.
Don't put yourself out" said Fritz
observing the motion of my lips. ''Wind
is the capital of speech, and you shall
have your share of it"
Trusting the nozzle of bellows into
my trachea, FRITZ dom know how he
did it all with only two hands-pumped
and blew away with might and main
doubled my fist, or thought did, to
knock him down as he approached to in.
sert the bellows. 1t was a singular cir
cumStance that, so far as sensation went,
l seemed to be in the full possession OF
all my members.
As | said, doubled up my fist, OF
imagined did, and struck out Justify as
Fritz came near, but the blow fell or
nothing. Fool that 1 was!-there lay
my bodily appurtenances all dead before
me.
"Villain! I'll have you hanged fol
thisw | yelled with the first puff of air
received from the bellows. 'Ill 90 al
once and summon the Coronerr'
Alas! forgot had no legs.
"Keep a civil tongue in your head OF
I'll be obliged to shut off your wind, -
said Fritz.
How long can live thus?" ] asked.
"PrObably twenty minutes" he an
swered; "that is if my strength doesn't
give way, It's hard work-this pulling
and pumping both at once"
"For goodness sake keep it up" ]
pleaded. ''Don't mind what | said
about geing for the Coroner. was
little excited just then
'G IN not afraid of YOUR going" said
he. But tell me all about your feel
ings, old fellow"
I'm getting too short of breath to
talk much" Ireplied.
Fritz renewed his exerlions, but his
energies, it was evident, were failing
rapidly.
mo use," he said. at last. I've got
to give it up. My strength is quite ex-
hausted."
"Don't-don't stopr' | gasped.
" Can't help it." he answered.
Z" If you stop I'll kill your | whis-
pered, hoarsely, for the stream of air
was getting feeble.
Fritz laughed tauntnglv.
became Infatuated. was seized with
sudden desire for vengeance. felt as
though L had hundred hands, each en-
dowed with giant strength. / made a
desperate effort to spring upon Fritz,
and, to my establishment, this time sue
ceeded. My hands were at his throat,
but Fritz was strong and held me at bay.
Ha! ha." he laughed.
In an instant everything was changed,
[ no longer saw my headless body on the
floor. My head was as fast as ever on
my shoulders, and Fritz was holding me
in his arms and laughing at the violence
of my struggles.
l have never taken hasbeesh since; for
it was while under the influence of that
drug that Fritz's strange talk about
Brown-Sequard's Investigations and Ger
tain Observation-Disclosures OF his own made
me imagine myself the subject of hor-
rible experiment, the frightful details of
which assumed, for the time, reality
to which the senses were as actively
alive as they are this moment to the OBJ.
iects which | see and touch.