Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-12-26
ems moving about the house. md

steps UIOtlhS dOOuC IuC housoS SAN
with rare courage for q woman, sur
prsed her daughter with open, but UNI
seeing eyes, wandering from to
room, trying one door after another
with silent hand. These nocturnal
wanderings were succeeded by morn
ings of nervous hebetudc. In this con
dition, with others of the company, she
set out on her dramatic tour, from
which she anticipated great results, in
the latte, part of June, and was DOR
gathering abundant plaudits and press
notices--and, what is better, q fair
harvest of cash-in the cities of the
Southwest. She arrived in New Or
leans, languid and tagged out. While
performing in one of the large
towns in that vicinity she was
SUDDENLY Frustrated with the
epheneral fever, high tense, with
snathes of dclirium, and the familiar
rosecolored eruption which has been
SO oten described by such experts as
Pro. Sturgis, DR.. Tifford, DR.. O'Don-
nell and Others, who have witnessed
themost of the malady, ushcred in by
a severe and prolonged rigor. The
locd practitioner diagnosed the case
asl,ne of climatic fever, in the severer
foms of which eruptive phenomena
reembling s%carlatina are not unusual.
Fo' ten consecutive days this internal
consuming flame burned without inter-
mission; but on the tenth day, to the
w@der of the local practitioner, sud-
denly subsidized, the vapors of delirium
clearing away from the excited brain
and leaving the patient feeble as an i'm
FAINT, but free, apparently, from all
malarial symptoms. Meanwhile strand
ed by the illness of one of its leading
members, the company had fingered,
impatiet to be at work, grumbling and
discontinued. But, though GONZALES
cent a~ccoHling to the rules of the medi.
cine, neither stimulants nor tonics,
decoctionS of beef or of brandy and
quinine atailed to restore the wasted
and still wasting constitutional ener-
.gies. A substitute had to be engaged,
and by sloF stages, sick, disappointed,
dishearten.d, the young actress re-
turned to Yer home. 1t befell, by one
those ~curitus condolences that render
human lifi such a riddle to the unbe-
lieving, tlht the ease came under the
purview of an. adept in leprosy, whose
training III one of the great centers of
the disease had educated his eye to the
detection If all its subtle signs. ..The
story Of tie blotch under the eye, the
bloated failures, and the significantly
whitish palor of the skin; the sudden
and terrible fever, with red spots, fol-
lowed byI sudden, but only apparent,
convalesGnce; the subsequent debility,
n, 1ov,o kr1 oro,o,,,I g. :1,,,o. ALa H..
gated, hard, red tubercles on the shoul-
ders, which the patient showed me,
wondering how they came; the numb
ness of the hands-all these" said the
young man to the Mercury reporter,
who, having heard of the case from an
acquaintance of the victim, was referred
to herphysician for information. swere
things as familiar to me as the Roman
alphabet. 1 shall call other physicians
before finally announcing the verdict so
terrible to hear and bear, but, between
you and me, there is no more question
about the nature of the disorder than
about a case of scarlatina or the
measles. The poor thing is in the be-
ginning Of the third, OF tubercle, stage
of leprosy. Practitioners call this the
second stage. How did she contract
the terrible faint that is gnawing away
her beauty and life? I have questioned
her cautiously. She denies having WIS.,
tied any opium-smoking haunt just be-
fore the blotch came or at any previous
period. There was a ledger in the
house, her mother says, in May and
June last, who had just such reddish
tubercles on his shoulders and neck as
are now appearing in the case of her
daughter. If the mother is correct in
her description, the young man was a
leper, and must have been aware of it,
and that his presence in the house was
a source of imminent danger. [ am
satisfied that the disease is leprosy, and
that my patient ought to be isolated
Immediately for the protection of the
family and her friends"
The young actress has Cancelled her
engagements for the fall season, and
proposes to make a voyage to Europe
as soon as arrangements can be effected
for her mother to- accompany her.-M.
Y. Mercury.