Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-09-10

A Little Boys Terrible Suffering
from HydrOphObia.
lPhlladeIphla Timos.l

philadelphia Timcsl
Little Samuel Wisham, OF Camden,
died Yesterday morning between 3 and 4
O'Clock from dydrophobia. He was a
frail little fellow, and suffered for hours
before death came He was barely thir
teen years old, and lived at ll6 West
street.
lie went into commissions early on
Tuesday evening and CONFUSION follow
ed CONFUSION until nearly i o'clock, and
the Door little fellow shook like fright
ened beast and snapped and bit at hIs
mother and father like a mad-dog. His
screams could be heard square away,
and he frothed at the mouth and showed
his teeth, while his eyes shone in a CLASSY
stare.
1t was not until hypodermic injections
we're given him that he was quoted, but
his little body had been so racked by the
spasms that the physicians knew it was
only a question of a few hours when he
would die. He died peacefully three or
four hours after the last mad fit had left
him. His last breath was drawn so
quietly that it was not known for q mo-
ment that he had breathed his last He
was a quiet, pretty little boy and IA
vorite among the neighbors, and he had
many little play-fellows who will 60 to
his funeral tomorrow afternoon.
BITTEN BY A MAD-DoG.
Little Sammy, as the neighbors called
him, was shooting fire-crackers IN front
of his home on the Fourth of July. One
of the crackers did not explode, and the
bow bent over the cracker 10 relight 1t.
Just at that moment a yagabond mon
grel dog ran up to him and bit him on
the left side Of his face between the tenn
pie and his eye.
The dog was frothing at the mouth
and staggered along i'll mad fit and IS
said TO have bitten other children before
he was shot an hour afterward by the
little fellows father, Albert Wisham.
Little Sammy, very much frightened,
was taken to DIR. Browns drugstore, on
the northeast corner OF Fifth aud Federal
streets, where DR.. Benjamin, one OF the
principal surgeons of Camden, cauterized
the bite and told the little fellow that 1t
was only a scratch and wouldn't amount
to anything.
That was the last thought of the bite
nntil last Sunday, when little Sammy
came home from Sunday school and
complained that he felt sore all over.
Both the father and mother thought OF
the mad-dog. and the little fellow was
tenderly nursed that night. He was no
better on Monday morning, and Dr. II.
b. Smith, of the Homeopathic Hospital,
was sent for.
PRoNOUNCING IT HYDROPHOBIA.
The Doctor was told the story OF the
mad-dog, and he at once pronounced the
boys illness a perfect type Of hydropho-
bia. Proper remedies were applied, but
the boy grew rapidly worse, and as the
temperature grew warmer he kept grow
ing worse. Finally, on Tuesday night
commissions set IN, and Dr. Smith SAID
all he could do was to ease the boys
paroxysms OF pain. The little fellow
couldn't swallow medicine, and all that
could be done for him was to give him
hypodermic injections of morphine.
While he was in commissions and three
men were holding his arms and legs little
Sammy was screaming, swapping, and
snarhng, and frothing at the mouth and
irving to bite his mother and father and
everybody who came near him. Several
times be shouted to his father to shoot
the dog.
His father said yesterday that until
last Sunday when the boy came home
from Sunday school he had thought no
more of the bite, and at the time he bad
no serious concern about 1t, because IN
annesrance the bite was mere scratch,
and the fact that the wound was imme-
diately cauterized alIayed all fears OF the
boy being in danger.
THE FIRST CASE IN CAMDEN COUNTY.
II is the first case of death from hydro
nbobia known in Camden county.
Comfy Physician lizard is going to make
an investigation OF all the symptoms
connected with the case. Dr. Smith said
last night alt was n perfect type OF
bydrophobia. do not think the little
fellow suffered a very great deal OF
physical pain. although he must have I'M
dereone terrible mental agony.
lit was impossible to save his life. All
that could be done for him was TO ease
mis- physical suffering and quiet him. he
couldn't swallow anything. HIS thEost
Was swollen and he frothed at the mouth
all the time. 1t isa very sad case.
Camden never had dog-catcher until
Monday, when Mayor Pratt appointed
colored man named Henry Becker. A
number of children have been bitten by
dogs in Camden this summer aud COM
plants have been made about the large
pumber OF dogs running at large. Mayor
Pratt says he is going TO have the streets
cleared of dogs during the hot weather.
Here and there through Camden last
night mothers, cooling TO their babies
sat on their front steps and talked TO
neighbors about the woful fate OF poor
little sammy Wisham.