Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1883-08-02
DEATHS FROM FRIGHT.
several Curious Cases Where Nervous
Shocks Proved Fatal.
London Globe

The distinction between fright and
fear ought always to be borne in mind.
Fear can be mastered by an effort;
fright has come and gone before the
brain has had time to come to the con-
clusion that an effort is possible. There
y no fear so strong in human beings as
the fear of death. and yet, 'there is
no passion in the mind OF man,
says Bacon, truly enough, $50 weak
that ii mates and masters the fear of
death. Revenge triumphs over death;
love Sights it; honor aspireth to it,
grief flieth to il; fear cccupieth it,
Pity, which is the ''tenderest of pas
sions," led many to kill themselves
from compassion for Otho's suicide
Even f@aiaan UitP, mere utter weari-
ness of doing the same thing over and
over again, will lead a man
to defy his Unborn fear of death.
But what passion can guard against
fright?
A Jew, according to Lodovicus
Wives, once crossed u narrow plank
over torrent in the dark, and, visit
ing the place next day, saw the ex-
tremity of his last nights risk and
died of-what? Not of fear. obviously,
because there was nothing to be afraid
of but possibly of fright. So
again, persons have been
known who always tainted at that
scent Of certain flowers, notably the
of the May blossom, but it would be
ridiculous to accuse them of being
afraid of hawthorn.
Surgeon General Francis, of the In
dian medical service, tells of drum
mer who was suddenly aroused from
his sleep by something crawling over
his naked legs. He imagined it was "A
cobra, and his friends collected by the
cutlery thought SO too, aud he was
treated accordingly. lamentations such
as are customary with the natives on
these occasions, were resorted to, and
tue poor fellow was flagellated with
twisted cloth on the arms and legs in
view partly TO arouse him, but princi-
pally To drive out the evil influence
(spirit) that for the time being had
taken possession of him. With the
first dawn of light the cause of the
fri ,ht was discovered in the shape of a
harmless lizard which was lying
crushed and half killed by the side of
the poor drummer; but it was too late.
From the moment when he believed
that poisonous snake had bitten him
he passed into an increasing collapse
until he died. The drummer was not
much for him.
The most remarkable death from the
accident of fright was that Of Dutch
painter, Pentemann, in the seven
teenth century. lie was at work on a
picture which represented several
death heads, grinning skeletons and
other objects calculated to inspire the
beholder with a contempt for the van
tiles and follies of the day In order
to do his work better he went to
an anatomical room, and used it for
studio. One sultry day, as
he was drawing these melancholy
relics of mortality by which he was
surrounded he fell off into Il quiet
sleep. from which he was suddenly
aroused. Imagine his horror at be-
holding the skulls and bones dancing
around him like mad, and the skele-
tons which hung from the ceiling
dashing themselves together. Panic
stricken. he rushed from the room and
threw himselfheadlong from window
on to the pavement below. He
sufficiently recovered TO learn
that the cause OF his fear was a slight
earthquake, but his nervous system
had received so severe shock that he
died in few days.
Frederick /. OF Prussia, was killed
by an accident of fear. He was one
dsy sleeping in an armchair, when
his wife, Louisa of Mecklenburg, who
had for some time been hopeltssly in,
sane, escaped from her keepers and
made her way to the Kings privste
apartments. Breaking through glass
door she dabbled herself in blood, and
in raging fit OF deli[ Rn,
The latter. who WAS not aware of the
hopelessness of her lunacy, was so hor-
rided at the appearance o Of a %o man
s L,oad 'i hat ne imagined with super
stition characteristic of the age that 1t
was the white lady. whose ghost, ac-
cording to ,ime1h .,Saa as Tradition Sas
arom,,d tha house of Brand enburg.
He was seized with fever aid died Ia
six weeks.