Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1884-06-24
AFFAIR FASTER.
Lizzie Knowles Has Not Eaten n Square
Meal Since February Growing
Strong ON Nothing,

NEW HAVEN Conn. ,sJune l6.-The
little VILLAGE of East River, ON the
Shore Line road, between Guilford
aud Madison, and about fifteen miles
east of this city, is the latest claimant
To the possession of the no longer in
frequent phenomenon, person who
lives without eating. Prof West
brook OF New York, who recently at
tempted to live wholly on milk and
gave up the experiment after four
days trial, is put entirelyin the shade
by Miss Lizzie Knowles of East River,
who has partaken of nothing but a
little fruit aud drank nothing but
milk since the first week in February
of this year. She preserves her health
and strength on this simple diet,
and is not only the sensation
of the hour for the residents of East
River and all the towns within a
radius of ten miles, but is also much
sought after by the young SWANS who
are hunting after wife whose board
bill is not likely to be an item worth
considering in the domestic expenses.
Miss Knowles is the sixtecn-year-
old adopted daughter of Mr.. Henry
ID. knowles, a prosperous aud we'll
! known resident of East River. She
10 vi ihSuiuhi htiSht, anu neT IOTm
| shows
| NO SIGN OF EVACUATION.
| She Is pretty, vivacious and an en-
tertaining conversationalist, and is
! greatly admired by all who know her
She was formerly an inmate of the
! House for the Friendless in East Thir-
teenth street, New York city. Her
foster parents adopted her from the in
stitution, and gave her good home
and an excellent education. Two
years ago she was attacked with a
disease that has baflied the skill of
many doctors. When first taken i'll
she became numb and all her nerves
were paralyzed, She lost her
voice and was very weak but her mus.
cles were unaffected and she retained
her powers of motion. Her probation
continued nearly three months, when
she gradually recovered strength and
Is now able TO attend to domestic du-
lies. Her voice has not wholly re-
turned, and although every thing she
says Is perfectly distinct, it is uttered
in low but peculiarly pleasant whis-
| per. The strange part of Miss
knowles case, however, is that as her
strength returned her appetite de-
parted. AT first she
LOST ALL DESIRE FOR MEAT.
and finally her stomach refused to hold
! II. then her desire 10 eat ANYTHING at
all grew gradually less, and during the
latter part of the last and the early
part of this year she rarely ate more
than one or two meals week. For
some time her food, what little she ate
comprised several kinds, but she took
a dislike 10 one article after another
until nothing remained that would
tempt her appetite, except fruit and
milk, and on these two articles of diet
alone she has been living since last
February. Her principal nourishment
Is milk.
She partakes but sparingly of fruit,
and 1T seems probable that she will
abandon 1t entirely. That she does
not do this from her own free will is
evident from the fact that twice since
last February she has attempted to
retain food of other descriptions, but
her stomach rejected it. About two
weeks ago she swallowed an oyster,
but her stomach would not retain H.
A reporter of the World visited her at
her residence to-day, and, after obtain.
ing from Mrs. Knowles. the younp
lady's foster mother, the facts above
narrated, asked the young lady, as a
special favor to him, to swallow
TEAsPooNFUL OF BEEF BROTH
in his presence. Miss Knowles com.
piled with the request, but hardly had
she taken the spoon from her lips when
her stomach rejected the fluid. Mrs
KNOWLES assured the reporter that heI
adopted daughters health was good
aside from an occasional slight recur
renee OF the numbness with which sh,
was first attacked. She added thai
Lizzie was strong, and assisted her In
household duties.
, Another curious feature about tn,
young lady's condition is that heI
loathing for food is so great that sh,
can not aid in preparing the dali,
meals, nor can she he present i'm tn,
dining room when the family are a
dinner. The mere sight of food h
sufficient to produce the most violent
nausea. She has been under the car,
] of number of eminent physicians
e including DIR. Griswold of New
York. They have watched he
y symptoms from time to time and hay
: consulted with one another regardin.
this strange case, but are unable to ex
4 plain IL, except under the head of ner
vous disease of the stomach. They al
i pronounce her aversion to food per
a fectly genuine, and they say it is ALSO
|. lutely beyond her control. The youn,
lady herself is very modest and retii
ing and feels very much embarrassed
at the attention she is attracting.