The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1884-06-26

am glad to notice that in the East
there is growing disfavor in the pub
lie mind for selectinga practicing ply
stefan for the Office of Coroner. This
matter should have attracted attention
years ago. Now it gratifies me to no
tice a finer feeling on the part of the
people and an awakening of those SEN
sibilities which go to make life more
highly priced and far more enjoyable.
had the misfortune at one time to
be under the medical charge of a Cor
oner who had graduated from Chicago
morgue and practiced medicine along
with his inquest business with the most
fiendish delight. 1 do not know which
he enjoyed best, holding the inquest
or prac icing on his patient and getting
the victim ready for the quest.
One day he wrote out prescription
and left it for me to have filed. / was
surprised to find he had made mis-
take and left rough draft of the YER
dict in my own case and a list of Jurors
which he had made in memorandum,
so as to be ready for the worst 1 was
alarmed, for did not know that / was
IN 80 dangerous condition. He had
had the advantage of me, for he knew
just what he was giving me, and how
long human life could be sustained
under his treatment. / did not.
That is why 1 say that the profession
of medicine should not be allowed to
conflict with the solemn duties of the
Coroner. Dhey are constantly clashing
and infringing upon each others terri
No % f11 I'll
low down to the mysterious river that
defines the boundary between the known
and the unknown, and charge him pro-
fessionally till his soul has fed, and
then charge n per diem to the county
for prying into his internal economy
and holding an inquest over the debris
of mortality. l therefore hail this
movement with Joy, and wish to encour-
age 1T In every way. 1t points toward
degree of enlightenment which will
be in strong contrast with the darker
and more ignorant epochs of time, when
the practice of medicine was united
with the profession of the barber, the
well-digger, the farrier, the veterinarian,
or the coroner.
This physician plenipotentiary and
Coroner extraordinary that / have re.
ferred to very frequently went to see
patient with lung-tester under one
arm and the Revised Statutes under
the other. People never knew, when
they saw him going to neighbor's
house, whether the case had yielded tC
the Coroner's treatment or not. No one
ever knew just when overtaxed nature
would yield to the statutes in such case
made and provided. When the jury
was impaneled, however, we always
knew TINT the medical treatment had
been successfully fatal.
Once he charged the county with al
inquest he felt sure of, but in the night
the patient got delirious, eluded hi,
nurse, the physician, and Coroner, and
fed to the foot hills, where he was
taken care of and finally recovered
The experiences of sor'e of the patients
who escaped from this man read more
like fiction than fact. One man revived
during the inquest, Knocked the fore
man of the jury through the window
kicked the Coroner in the stomach, fec
him bottle of violet ink, and, with 6
shrek of laughter, fled. He is now
travelling under an assumed name viii
mammoth circus, feeding his bald
head to the African lion twice o day al
50 week and found.-De7lUer Opiia.