The Opelousas courier., 1886-10-02
THE CAISSON CURE.
An Alleged Remarkable Relief
for the Asthma.
A Sick Man Cats Well by Working at the
Bottom of the Missouri.

"Were you ever troubled with asthmag'
gasped a benevolent-loooking old gentle
men, as he took a seat beside a Times
reporter and mopped the perspiratior
from his brow in Paramount Park yester
day. moi Well, you're fortunate. Tv'
had it for thirty years. I might have
cured myself several years ago, but l had
not the grit to take the caisson cure.
"What is thatw was asked. "Well, I'll
relate a little incident which once came
under my personal observation" said he,
(which will explain what ! mean. Wher
the big railroad bridge of the Hannibal
and st. Joe railroad was being con.
structed over the Missouri river, owing
to the muddy bottom the caissons used
in the construction of the piers had to be
sunk from seventy to one hundred and
twenty-five feet below the bed of the
river to reach rock bottom. The gas
which accumulated in the c~aissons was
of the foulest character and it was al
mostimpossible to get men to go down in
them.
"Four dollars an hour was offered for
the work, with few takers. It was al
most impossible to live in one of them
longer than an hour, and a dead man was
brough up nearly every day. Well, one
day, as the chief engineer was sadly con-
templating the slowness of the work and
wondering II it would ever be completed,
a miserable, haggard being, more dead
than alive, approached him and asked for
a job. See here, my man, said the en-
gineer, this isn't a morgue. You've
struck the wrong funeral sAin't you
offering four dollars an hour here for Gals
son meng' said the shadow. Eyes, I'm
offering four dollars an hour for men, but
not for walking stiffs, said the engineer.
"Well, I'm starving, and I'm booked for
the other world anyhow, and I might
just as well die trying to live as to starve
to death. Give me a job and I'll take
my chances on it,
"Well, the engineer gave him a job,
babe him goodbye and expected to see
him brought up a corpse. The skeleton
stayed down that caisson three straight
hours, and when he came up he walked
UP to the engineer, asked for some money
to buy something to drink and said he
hadn't felt SO good for three months.
The next day he worked six hours and
said he felt bully; the next day eight
hours, and kicked like a steer because
the boss wanted to chase him up a quar-
ter OF an hour before his time was up.
"Well, he worked in the c~aissons eight
hours q day until the bridge wa finished.
When he went down in the caisson the
first day he weighed eighty pounds and
hadn't a cent. When he got through
with the jobhe weighed one hundred and
se~venty-fve pounds, had a full beard,
was the strongest man in the gang and
had saved up over a thousand dollars.
You see, lie had the asthma. The bracing
atmosphere of Missouri was too much for
him. The donfining atmosphere of the
was just what he needed and
really saved his life. He invested his
savings in a farm near Kansas City, spec
ulated successfully and is now the owner
of one OF the largest cattle ranches in
1T was certainly a remarkable cure,
but ! have always regretted that I did
not possess sufficient courage TO take it
myself, as in my capacity of temperance
and local preacher / am often
seriously inconvenienced by my lack
Of BREATH
Then heold gentleman slowly gathered
together, borrowed a chew of
tobacco and mournfully made a Decline
'or the pump.-PAsadegphie Press.
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