The Republican journal., 1882-11-09

One day last week the people resident
III Astoria were startled by the report
(tWo reports, in facU, that one William
Scheeyer, a German shoemaker Of that
vicinity, had shot himself once in the
mouth and once i'll the ear with a "bull-
dog revolver, and was dead. Inquiry
showed that he was not yet dead but
the physician hastily summoned said he
must speedily die, as he had two bullets
in his brain. He was brought to New
York and placed for treatment in the
Roosevelt Hospital, and after few
hours was sufficiently composed TO ar
range for bis coming death 10y signing
over all bis property to his daughter.
He then went to sleep and on the next
day asked for some Frankfurter sausage
and lager, saying that he was hungry.
The next day he said he was very sorry
and walked away from the hospital, ap-
parently in pretty good condition. one
bullet was found to have glanced of out
side his head, but there is considerable
doubt as to where the other one is. at
may be in his brain, it may be lodged in
one Of the nasal bones or he may have
swallowed it, said the physician who at
tended him in hospital. Time, it thus
appears, may or may not show whether
William ScheevtrS name is to be added
to the long list Of persons who have re-
covered from what arc ordinarily mortal
wounds. Whatever the truth may be in
this case the circumstances are sutti-
ciently striking to recall the other cases,
many of which are truly marvellous.
The extinction or continuance of the
''Nital spark physicians agree, is a
problem that is never solved until the
final extinction is absolutely determined.
1t is easy to tell that a man is dead, but
it Is very seldom certain that he will die,
since there are cases CT recovery that no
sane man would think Of predicting.
For example, no person would have sup
posed for a moment that the man in
Massachusetts, whose case has 50 often
been quoted would have lived twelve
years after having a tamping iron blown
directly through his head, entering un-
der his jaw and coming out through the
roof Of his skull; yet he did live for that
time, and even enjoyed good physical
health. And it would not occur to any
ordinary man that he could live long
with a hole in the side of his stomach,
yet if st. Martin had not done that very
thing the physicians agree that compar-
atively little would be known to-day OF
the marvellous processes that 60 on in
side the laboratory Of the body.
MARVELLOUS CASES.
On the other hand, one who is accus-
toned to seeing the enormous strains
and shocks the human frame withstands
is often surprised at seeing how little a
thing Will "loose the silver cord" Not
to speak Of the swift and fatal maladies
that are often brought about by seeming
ly absurd trities, such as a little too
much ice water when one is overheated,
or the swallowing of some indigestible
morsel, the accidents that cause death
are often trivial in all but the result 4
man steps on bit Of orange peel, or his
friend sportiyely pulls away his chair,
with the idiotic idea that he is joking,
and the victim sits down too far, fract-
ure8 his spine and is picked up dead A
strong man scratches his finger, and dies
OF lockjaw. a large man, bending side
ways in bis chair, trying to button his
shoes, loses his balance, rolls over Oh a
carpeted chair and breaks his arm
Gangrene sets in and he dies. Such
cases are on record, and 90 to show how
slight the real hold on life is. Yet slight
as is the tenure by which men stay in
this world, there are innumerable cases
on record far more marvellous than that
Of William Scheever, even supposing
that he has a bullet or even two in his
brain. The inevitable death that was
formerly supposed to attend upon any
serious accident to the main organs of
the body does not always come, and men
live not only with bullets in their brain,
holes IN their stomach, diSlOcated spineS
and actual wounds in the heart itself,
but even with open wounds clear through
the body itself, General Henry A. Bar
mum, OF Brooklyn, wrote, while President
Garfield lay dying, a letter to the press
IN which he told OF his own wound, which
he received in battle during the civil
war. 1t remained an open aperture
through his body and has never healed,
and for years his treatment of it has been
simply to wear in the hole roll of pre-
pared lint. This is renewed daily, and
the suppurati0n of the wound is constant,
sometimes greater and sometimes less,
but never entirely ceasing. General
Shields, Of Missouri, has a similar wound
extending through his body and open in
front and behind. His wound, it is said,
was received in the Mexican war, and he
wears, not lint, but a silk handkerchief in
it. This he can draw directly through
his body Some three or four years ago,
boy in Paterson, \. j., picking up
shavings in carpenters shop fell back
ward against q buzz saw that was re-
Volying with immense rapidity. RecOv-
ering his equilibrium he walked unaided
to drug store near by and asked to
have his wound dressed. He complained
of having a terrible headache, and this
was not doubted when it was found on
examination that the saw had divided
his head almost in two. One end of the
cut was half between the forehead
and the crown of the head, and the other
end was Just at the base Of the skull A
right line from one end to the other
would have passed almost through the
middle of the head, but the saw was a
small one and its outside edge had be-
yOnd question cut far beyond such a
right line Yet the boy lived several
days and retained his consciousness to
the time Of his death. 1t was supposed
that the saw had passed between the
two lobes of the brain, but that point
was never settled positively, as the boy s
father refused to allow post mortem
examination. In reporting this case the
writer learned of two men, both living in
Paterson at the time, each Of whom had
carried a bullet in his brain for number
of years. One of them had been shot in
the eye, and the physician who attended
him declared that the bullet was beyond
doubt lodged against the skull at the
back of the head. Both these men en-