The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1882-03-09
Too Good for Earth.

Too Good for Earth.
Miss Mary Ann Herman, of Jacksonville,
Indiana, has outdone Tanner in the fasting
ine. Some months ago she got the fanatical
idea into her head that she was too good for
earth, and sought q number of persons whom
she implored to brain her with a-hatchet. She
visited grocery stores and would linger shout
for whole days begging Of customers to put an
end to her existence. Finally the authorities
placed her in an asylum for the insane. With
no other alternative left, she determined to
reach heaven by fasting, and on the 18th day Of
January she began by refusing to eat anything
whatever until relieved by death. A dispatch
Of March 2 says: Miss Herman passed her
fftieth day of fasting to-day. No strategem
induces her to take food. Her extremities are
dark-hued, denoting modification. No pulse
perceptible. Circulation nearly gone"
Henrtlessnesa.
Near Estellville, Virginia, Mrs. vickers and
her three children attempted to cross Bear
Greek on horseback. The eldest of the children
was aged ten and the youngest an infant at the
breast. The horse, in midstream, stumbled
and fell, throwing his load of human freight
into the rushing current. A man named John
Tugate, with two other men, stood ON
the banks and watched the desperate struggles
of the poor woman and her children to save
themselves. One of them, less heartless than
the others, manifested disposition to attempts
to save them. Tugate, however, would not
permit him nor any of the others to put forth
hand to save them, but forced them to stand
by and witness their struggles to get out of the
water. The cries Of the woman finally reached
the ears of q man at work in q field near BY,
who in response came to her assistance in time
to save the woman and her two Oldest children
The infant had been swept down the stream
and drowned before the man could plunge in
and save it. The explanation of Tugate's
heartless refusal to assist the woman, is that
her husband few years ago murdered his
brother, and subsequently suffered for his
crime upon the gallows.
Destruction ON the Lower Mississippi.
The territory between Helena, Arkansas, and
Arkansas City, q distance Of 800 miles, has
been completely inundated by reason of .
number Of breaks in the levees. dispatch
says: At Riverton the scene was appalling.
The town is directly behind the levee,
which broke for distance of two hundred
miles. Directly in front of the town the
water poured through the crevasse like
cataract and swept everything before
it. The landing-keepor, Ben. Hanes, was
drowned, and also two negro children. Brick
chimneys were whirled around like tops, and
| several houses set on end. The people ran out
| in their night clothes, and while some climbed
trees others perched upon logs or the roofs
| Of their houses. There were only two
| boats in the place, and but for the arrival
| OF the Adams, many must have drowned
| before they could have been taken FROM
their places Of temporary refuge. The
breaks affect the whole of Bolivar, Washing
ton and Issaquena, the richest cotton counties
in the State of Mississippi 1t is impossible
| now to estimate the danger, though it will be
great. The levee is studded with live stock,
that must starve unless relief comes. The
damage to the levee will exceed $4,000 The
loss to the planting interests will be measured
by the duration of the overflow"