The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1883-04-12

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was fast. I had pulled his shirt up
under his arms, while he was
asleep, and ss he began to move |
took an icicle, and in the dim light
of the candles, that were sitting on
the table IN beer bottles, I drew the
icicle across pas stummick and /
said to my chum, Doc, l guess we
better cut open this old dufer and
see if he died from inflammation Of
the stummick, from hard drinking,
as the Coroner said he did" Pa
shuddered all over when he felt the
icicle going over his bare stummick,
and he said, "For Gods sake, gen.
tlemen, what does this mean? I
am not dead" The other boys
looked at pa in astonishment, and |
said, "Well, we bought you for
dead. and the Coroner's jury said
you were dead, and by the eternal
we amt goin to be fooled out Of a
corpse when we buy one, are we,
Doc?" My chum said not if he
knowed hisself, and the other
students said, "Of course he is dead.
He thinks he is alive, but he died
day before yesterday, fell dead on
the street, and his folks said he had
been a nuisance, and they wouldn't
claim the corpse, and we bought it
at the morgue." Then 1 drew the
icicle across him again, and l said,
Il don't know about this, doctor. ]
find that blood follows the scalpel
as I cut through the cuticle. Hand
me the blood sponge, please" Pa
began to wiggle around, and we
looked at him, and my chum raised
his eye-id, and looked solemn. and
pa said, 'sHold on, gentlemen.
Don't cut into me any more, and /
can explain this matter. It's all a
mistake. It's all mistake. /
was only drunk We went in a
corner and whispered, and pa kept
talking all the time. He said if we
would postpone the hog killing he
could send and get witnesses to
prove that he was not dead, but
that, he was a respectable citizen
and had a family. After we had
held a consultation / went to pa
and told him that what he had said
about being alive might possibly be
true, though we had our doubt. We
had found such cases before in our
practice East, where men seemed
to be alive, tut it was only tempo
rary. Before we had got them cut
up they were dead enough for all
practical purposes. Then I laid
the icicle across pas abdomen, and
went on to tell him that even if he
was alive it would be better for
him to play that he was dead, be-
cause he was such a nuisance to his
family that they did not want him,
and l was telling him that in his
lifetime he was very cruel to his
boy, a bright little fellow who was
at the head Of his class in Sunday
school, and pet wherever he was
known, when pa interrupted me and
said, doctor, please take that
carving knife off my stomach, for it
makes me nervous. AS for that
boy of mine, lie is the condemndest
little whelp in this town, and he is
no pet anywhere. Now you let up
on this dissectin' business, and l
will make it all right with you"
We held another consultation and
then told pa that we did not feel
that it was doing justice to society
to give up the BODY of a notorious
drunkard, aft:r we had paid twenty
dollars for the corpse. If there
was any hope that he would reform
and try and lead a different life, it
would be different, and 1 said to
the boys, &c entlemen, we must do
our duty" Then I took my icicle
and began fumbling around the
abdomen portion Of pas remains,
and my chum took a rough piece
of ice and began to saw his leg of,
while the other boy took hold of the
leg and said lie would catch it when
it dropped off. Well, pa kicked
like a steer. He said he wanted to
make one more appeal to US, and
we acted sort of impatient, but we
let up to hear what he had to say.
He said if we would turn him loose
he would give us ten dollars more
than we paid for his body, and that
he would never drink another drop
as long as he lived. Then we
whispered some more and then told