St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1882-03-31
A Walking Glass Factory.
THE PHENOMENON REPORTED FROM A
NEW JERSEY CITY.


NEW JERSEY CITY.
A recent issue of the New York Tri-
bune gives account of a most singular
case at Passaic, n. J.-that of boy
from whose body some 80 pieces of
glass have been taken. The history of
the young hero is an interesting one.
Four Years ago the coming summer he
was at Franklin, n. j. There while
running about bare-fOoted near an old
saw mill, the windows of which had
been knocked out with stones, he step
ped heavily on some broken glass. A
deep, severe cash was cut in the sole
of the right foot Just beneath the large
Joint of the great toe. Il got to the
house the best way | could" he says,
''walking on my heels" There was no
doctor, and a woman bathed the foot,
applied the traditional remedy of cob
webs to stop the bleeding, and band
aged it without cleansing the wound or
examining it for bits of glass. The cut
was slow in healing. For some months
the boy was unable to bear any weight
upon that side of his foot, and his
right shoe was worn almost entirely on
one side. Gradually the sense of pain
and soreness i'll the foot subsidized. a
year and a half passed. In September,
1880, Mr.. Rose brought his son home
from the country, where he had been
spending his vacation. Noticing that
! Lewis seemed to feel pain in his left
| foot, Mr. Rose asked the cause and the
boy replied that he had cut his foot in
climbing over a fence. On reaching
his home, which was then in Paterson,
he complained of a sharp pain i'll the
inner side of the left instep. His shoe
and stocking were removed, and i'll the
! stocking was found piece of glass
over half an inch long. The cut, which
was serious enough to be painful, was
poulticed. Suddenly Lewis screamed
and complained of "A sharp pain in his
foot. His mother removed the pOultice
and found adhering to it a still larger
piece of glass. The wound was then
simply dressed with vaseline, and Ell
ther left uncovered or cloth laid
lightly over it, Mrs. Rose sat beside
her son and watched him carefully,
and she states that she and other mem
bers of the family actually saw pieces
of glass issue from the cut i'll Lewis
foot. Naturally alarmed, she sent for
her family physician, but he was una
BILE to come for some time, and on his
arrival, after the glass had ceased ap-
pearing, he ridiculed the alleged occur
renee as an impOssibility. Twenty
pieces in all, it is said, came out at this
time. They were from One-eighth to
/, three quarters of an inch long, and va
ried similarly in width.
, A few weeks after this Lewis suffer
ed from pain in his right side, which
was attributed to pleurisy. Nothing
else eventful happened until a week
; ago Monday. Then Lewis complained
of pain in his right fore arm. On the
outer side, just above the red spot like
an aggravated pimple. Mrs. Rose
, squeezed drop of yellowish matter
+ from this and put bandage around it.
This gave the boy annoyance from its
! tightness until it was lOOsened. He
was then studying his lessons to be in
= readiness for morning school. All at
t once he screamed violently, grew pale
= and seemed in great agony. His moth
r er went to his relief and taking off the
bandage found there a piece of glass
r Several others followed while the
| mother was watching him and at last
D very large piece appeared, which ap-
2 peared to cause the boy intense pain
a and to completely exhaust him. These
I pieces of glass, Mrs. Rose states, "pOp-
. ped out" through the opening origin
ally made by pricking the pimple
D which had naturally become enlarged
- There was little or no bleeding and the
4 pieces of glass were white and clean
= and, with two or three exceptions, un-
= stained by blood. In the course of the
V day twenty bits of glass issued from
the hole in the boys wrist. In the
d evening a physician called and probeC
e the wound, but there were no NOR,
signs of glass and the physician wai
skeptical. On Tuesday morning the
d issue of glass was resumed. Mrs. ROst
: sent for the physician, but he delayed
= coming until Wednesday. During hii
II stay no glass appeared, but it begar
o to come out soon after his departure
s and continued until 9 o'clock. Mrs
r. Rose sent for neighbor, Mrs. Burns
e who sat with the boy and $50 she AYERS
" actually saw glass issue from thu
III wound. The last time that glass ap
" peared was on Friday of last week, af
II ter which the wound rapidly healed
III When Lewis was seen at his home b,
u Tribune reporter minute red spot
e which could hardly be dignified by tn