Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1885-01-17

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100, crossed snt Ectilean sIfeam.
mt before his death he told the wri-
FER the facts given below, speaking
If them as a curious coincidence,
md not for a moment looking at
them in superstiri0us light.
He was man ofremarkable nerve.
was as brave AS CGur de Leon, and
would be as little daunted By the
appearance Of a mon-pure ghost az
ne would by the appearance Of al
DID friend. 1t was but short time
before his death and whilst Canal
street was pandemouium of sound.
ind horns and fire-crackers were
making Christmas eve hideous, that,
seated in this Office, the conversation
turned on things supernatural. The
trepidations Of youth over spooks,
and the fears of the suberstitions OF
older growth were laughed at, and it
was not until the subject drifted to
hospital life that the doctor exclaim-
ed.
"That's fact; l don't believe /
ever told you my experience in the
dead.house of the hospital after Sail
or Johns death. never cared about
saying anything regarding it, for it
/ have to confess it, for the first time
in my life was u little weak.
lyon know the dead-house at
Charity hospital and its interior 2
Well, / had a case Of angearism
that puzzled all of us, and being a
young physician then, had a nat
ural pride in my diagnosis, which
did not agree with that of the other
surgeons. So / determined that
when the patient died, as he was
sure to do, l wonld hold an AUTOPSY
myself. Well, the poor fellow sue
cumhed at last, and, as had been
busy all day, coul,l not get back to
the hospital until IL O'Clock on the
night of June 80. | remember the
date we'll. Illuminating the inside
room of the dead-house, there was
but single gas burner alight.-
Rigid on one side of the dissecting
table was my subject awaiting me.
~ needn't tell you that, after all
of my student life at the hospital,
gong out there alone at that time Of
night produced not the slightest
impression upon me. We were too
used to such things TO notice them.
In fact, SO great was my sieSife 70
prove my diagnosiscorrect rs against
that OF other physicians, thought
only of the Case, and nothing else.
sit was anything but pleasant
night. ! may say that | can not re-
member more disagreeable one. A
clustering norther was blowing and
a heavy rain falling. The wind
moaned around the caves Of the hos
pital as ii hundreds of sufferers were
in agony, and the gnrgle of water in
the CRITTERS leading to tue cistern
was anything but musical. Once in
a while flash of-igbting threw out
in relief the bodies lying OH other
tables awaiting for burial. Certain.
ly it was a night OF nights for a visit
to dead-house.
"Well, took off my oil-cloth coat,
opened my disseeting case, aud
started to work. The wind stole in
through crevices and flared the gas
so that l was delayed in my investi-
cation considerably. But after an
hours labor 1 approached the soln-
ton of the problem over which 1 had
so long studied. So full Of anxiety
that my hand trembled, and seeing
this | stopped, filed my pipe, and
began smoking to conquer my eager
ness.
"The face of the dead man was
ashen in its paleness, and his flesh
was as cold as marble. Looking
back at the picture now, / don't
think / ever saw more spectral
corpse than that. The eyes were
open, and in the agony of death the
muscle of the mouth had contracted,
so that in the rigor mortis be had a
sardonic grin that was horrible III it's
leer.
1.-THE patter of the rain on the
roof was incessant, but it sounded
pleasant, for it seemed company to
one. 1t did not drown all other
sounds for now aud again above the
storm there came from the female
ward a wall of anguish from a poor
sufferer in delirinm.
at took but few minutes smok-
ing to recovermy steadiness of hand,
and [ resumed work. While bend
ing over the body, just at moment
when the greatest deliracy of oper-
alton was required, q curious noise
from one corner of the dead house
startled me. 1t was not like a foot
step, but something like a shutting
Of feet.
"InstincrYely | looked in that
direction and noticed for the first
time some tour or Eve sknIlS on fha