Morning journal and courier., 1883-11-10
Mrs. O'Netl's Mysterious Illness

In State of Insensibtlity for Twenty Four Aours-POisOn Suspected, But Not
 Found.
 From the Philadelphia Tinesl
 For two days the people of Norristown have been perplexeds by case 50 mysteri- ous both in it's origin and it's results, as to baf1e the skill of their police and their best physicians. At place known as Laurel Dell, about mile west of Bridgeport, lives Edward O'NeiI, boss in one of the Bridge port colleries. His wife is an attractive though somewhat eccentric young woman, twenty. five years of age. Last Saturday evening she walked to Bridgeport, purchased some confections and few domestic articles at Holstein's drug store. and between six and seven o'clock she set out upon her homeward journey, apparently in excellent spirits. At half-past seven MT. O'Neil was aroused by the closing of the door of an outer kitchen or shed attached to the house and thought that his wife had returned. An hour later she had not made her appearance, and O'Neil, becoming uneasy, lit lamp and made tour of the premises. Entering the shed he be- held sight that terrified and unnerved him. Sitting bolt upright upon the floor, perfectly motionless, was the form of his wife. Her lips were covered with froth and her stony eyes were rigidly fixed in ghastly stare liko those of @ frightened imbeciie.
 Upon trying to arouse her the husband
 
 ble of speech or motion. The articles pur- chased at the drug store had been deposited on the table in en inner room Glancing as these the man concluded that his wife had taken poison. Upon the arrival of Dr. Cor son prompt measures were taken for the wo- mans restoration, but the stomach pump not only proved that no poison of any kind had been administered, but demonstrated that for forty. eight hours no food had passsd the wo. mans lips except little candy, evidently eaten on her way home. Abandoning the theory of laudanun poisoning, the physician treated the case as one of apoplexy. The heavy breathing, prolonged unconsciousness, and the dialated eye, showing pressure upon the brain, indicated such an attack, though some of the symptoms were very contradic- tory. The best medical skill produced no apparent result. The woman remained in g perfectly comatose state, cold and rigid and inscnsiblc to pain.
 AS rumors of the strange case spread, the nSghbors gathered about the house, and the story related by two young girls appeared to throw some light upon the mystery. The Misses Henshaw, returning home from the Norristown mills, had taken ths same route as that traversed by Mrs O'Neil. It Is a dark and secluded road, skirtin9 the bank of the river. As they walked along the narrow path the girls discovered that they were fol- lowed by strange, rough looking man, ap- parentIy a tramp. They tried to avoid him and stood aside to let him pass, but he dog gedly continued to shadow them, until, be- coming thoroughly frightened, they ran to- ward home, and the tramp abandoned the pursuit. They passed Mrs, O'Neil upon the road, but were too much agitated to atop and relate their experience. The popular theory is that the tramp, after the girls escaped, in some way terrified Mrs.E EO'Neil. Running home in fright and becoming exhausted, the shock to her nervous system is supposed to have thrown her into oonVulsions, Ybiob. '- the absence of aid brought on eoh0-sfion Inf the brain.
 Despite the extreme meas ures adopfed by DEs CoTSon and Reed, their patient lay for twehty four hours in the same deashly state. Both doctors admitted that they were wholly bafled, aud agreed that tho woman WAS with out douh. a3 the point of death But during Suiit3ay night she suddenly rallied and ut- tered few broken but rational sentences. Last night the patient was pronounced out of danger and rapidly gaining strength When reason returned it was hoped the woman could throw some light upon the cause of her strange and sudden illness, but this de- sire has not been realized. The past forty eight hours are to her blank. She can re- member nothing about her journey along the dark road, and questions skilIfuliy put by Dr. Reed prove that she doss not even know that she left her home on Saturday night. She supposed that she had retired with her husband, as usual. From Saturday afternoon until the present the record of events regis tered upon her memory seem to have been wholly and forever obliterated The suspi- cious tramp has not been found.
 F'She will recover" said Dr. Reed, the family physician, lRss evening, ''but she and her friends will probably never know wheth- CT she was the victim of her own nervous ap- pzshensions or of something more serious."