Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-08-28

over cue of the mans shoulders, where
they had remained for over tn rtv wears
out he refused to have them cut out.
n they went to his coffin with him.
Another man swallowed a needle: in
ten days it reached his stomach and
worked its way through into the left
lung, where it produced bloody expec-
tOratiOn.
There is a case Of an insane woman
who swallowed a fork with suicidal in
tent, expecting to die under the opera
ton. Singular to relate, she recovered.
An abscess formed in the abdominal
walls, from which the fork was re-
moved. Teller is authority for a case
in which a fork worked it's way from
the stomach to the thigh.
A curious case happened to a person
who was eating a banana while walk
ing along the street. Asphyxia and
death ensued. The dissection showed
that there was a deficiency in the pal
ate. which had been kept habitually
stuffed with rags of lint. These had
got loose, became entangled in the
morsel the man was about to swallow,
which stopped Immediately over the
epiglott:s. and thus kept it closely shut
down. Thus a piece Of banana with a
rag wrapped around it. may kill one
man, while a fork which another sHal-
lows may not
What is one mans food is another's
po'sion is exemplified in the case of
Francis Battalia, who, it appears, was
born with two small stones in one
hand and one in the other. DR.. John
Bulliner in his rare book, s.Man Trans
formed" says he devoured about half
a peck of pebbles a day, and when he
jumped up you could hear the stones
inwardly rattle. all OF which in twenty
four hours were resolved in the usual
way. Other food he could not eat.
Meat, bread, broth or milk made him
sick, but he could go beer. He was
short of stature. swarthy and black,
and served as a soldier IN Flanders and
Ireland, and made such good use of his
extraordinary power that he acquired
a competency from charging to allow
people to see him eat.
In 1904 the young son of Mr.. Norton
on his way to school, while jumping q
fence with the blade of a knife in his
mouth, swallowed it, and in a few
days was we'll, and. returned to school.
But the most remarkable of all the
swallowing cases was that of John
Cummings, sailor, who lived ten years
after having swallowed a number of
knife-blades. DR.. Alex. Marcel. late
physician to Grey's Hospital. furnishes
the case to the Edinburgh Rhi1osopAi-
cal Journal. In June, 1899, John Cum
mings, an American, aged twenty
three. being with his ship on the coast
of France, went on shore with some
friends two miles from Havre de Grace.
Here they were attracted to a tent
low cheap knives. When they returned
to the boat they were talking the event
over, when Cummings said that was
nothing an d he could do it as well :.as
Frenchmen. They dared him. He
took a glass of grog, and slipped his
own clasp knife down into his stomach.
The spectators were not satisfied with
one experiment, and asked John if he
could swallow more. He replied: "All
the knives on board ship" Upon
which three were produced and he
swallowed them. The next day he
passed one of the knives. which was
not the one he swallowed first, and the
day afterward the other two. The
other renamed in his stomach, but
never gave him inconvenience.
In March, 1905, being in Bos-
ton, he boosted of his feat
while drinking. A small knife was
produced, and he swallowed it with
ease as we'll as five more. The news
of his exploit brought crowds of peo-
pie to see him, and he swallowed eight
more, making fourteen in all. He
pad, however, dearly for his frolic,
for he was seized with violent and
constant vomiting and pain in his
stomach, yet on the 2Sth got rid OF
them all. At %Spithead, December
4th, he was challenged to repeat his
teat, and. being a man of his word,
swallowed five. Next day he got nine
down, but this was his last perform
ance. He swallowed thirty-five knives
in all. On the 9th he became indis-
posed, and in 1907 was in Guys Hos
pital. He lived miserably until 1909
when he died in a state of extreme
emaciation. On his dissection forty
one pieces of knives and handles were
found in his stomach of various sizes
and shapes, and in various stages OF
decompos ton.
The first feeling after swallowing
foreign bodies is a severe paroxysm OF
pain and coughing, Sometimes suffo-
cation takes place and death at once
ensues. Again the swallower is seized
with a feeling of humiliation. He
gasps for breath. looks wildly around
him. coughs and almost loses con-
seriousness. HIS countenance be-
comes liv.d, the eyes protrude
from their sockets, the body is con-
torted in every possible manner. and
froth. and sometimes even blood, issues
from the mouth and nose. Sometimes
he grasps his throat and uttcrs the
most distressing cries. The hearts ac-
ton is greatly disturbed, and 1t beats
fast or Slow, and not nnfrequently the
individual falls down in a state of in
s%ensibility, unable to execute a single
voluntary function. In short, he is
like one who has been choked by the