The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-04-27
DEATH FROM MYSTERIOUS POISON
Killed Either by the Bite of an Insector
by Contact with Diseased Hide.
"

Killed Either by the Bite of an Insector
by Contact with Diseased Hide.
From, the Neao York San.
Thomas Young, of 1872 Concord street,
worked in a wholesale leather house in
Spruce street. On Thursday, April 10, he
was handling some of the big hides in his
leather house, and he had just thrown one
of the big skins off his shoulder when he
felt sharp sting on his neck, little below
his'right ear. He rubbed it until the smart
seemed to disappear. 1t didn't bother him
much that night but on Friday it itched and
smarted, and he quit work with sore neck.
There was a slight swelling and little red
ness. A Brooklyn doctor told him to paint
it with iodine. That didn't cure the trou-
BILE ana on Sunday morning Mr.. Young was
taken to Chambers-street Hospital His
face and neck kept on swelling. The physi-
clans were puzzled. One of them saw that
the inflammation was increasing so much
in the region of the glottis that he thought
tracheotomY might be necessary. Mr..
Young was sent to the New York Hospital
on Sunday week ago and was put in charge
of DR.. William Gordon.
Mr.. Young told DIR. Gordon that he thought
be had been bitten by an insect which bur
rows in new leather, brought from the West
and Texas and the South generally. This
insect is a thing as greatly feared by leather
handlers as the tarantula is by the people of
tropical countries. The insect lives on some
thing in the leather and it lives for long
time, too. Its bite is considered dangerous
and cases in the South and West are known
in which the bite was fatal. Mr.. Young
said he had heard of two cases somewhere
in which the victim died in forty-eight
hours.
DR.. Gordon had never known in the New
York Hospital of similar case, but he went
to work on general principles to counterfeit
the effects of the poison. He dosed Mr..
Young with whisky, starting in with an
ounce every fifteen minutes and increasing
this gradually to sixteen ounces an hour.
When the Doctor first saw Mr. Young his
face was rather white, and on the right side
it was swollen from the eyelids down over
the check, and over the jaw and neck. The
inflammation also extended over TO the left
of the middle of the neck and down upon
the heart. just below the ear there was an
area of redneSs, and in the middle of that
was spot resembling the scar OF an insects
bite.
At Z o'clock of the evening upon which
Mr.. Young was admitted to the New York
Hospital he was free from any severe pain,
and while he knew that his neck was swol-
len from what was supposed to be fatal
bite, he did not seem to anticipate his death
The visiting physicians who had seen him
pronounced the case exceptional and while
they thought it rather hopeless, they really
could not tell what the result would be-
During the night the swelling grew larger
Mr. Young could not sleep The doses Of
whisky were increased. Digitais was also
given him. The whisky was given to slim
ulato the system generally and the digitalis
was to lessen the frequency of the hearts
pulsations and increase the force of the or
gan. The patient kept on getting worse
and at a. IN. on Monday morning DIR. Cor
don was called to his bedside to help him out
of fit of difficult breathing. He thought
he would have to. perform the operation of
tracheotomy, but Mr.. Young soon was able
to breathe little. 1t was plain that he
could not live and his folks were sent for.
About 10 a. m. his breathing again became
SO difficult because of the swelling that DR..
+. w. Clark had to resort to tracheotomy.
Within half an hour after the cutting the
patient died The direct cause was malig-
nant pdema. The swelling at that time
had reached far down on the body over the
breast and was three inches thick post
mortem examination showed that Mr..
Young had also been afflicted with Bright's
disease. Contrary TO the physicians expec-
tatous the Board of Health permitted the
family 10 remove the body for burial
DR.. Gordon is in doubt whether it was an
insect bite after all He thinks that the
lcllHeT nditlc4 ndll an abrasion on MS neck
and that the hide which rubbed against IL
bad come from a diseased animal. Cattle
often have what is known as anthrax, an
aiment Of the Blood which is made infec-
tious by the anthrax bacillus Mr. Young
was positive that he was bitten by an in
sect. There have been several cases in the
Swamp of leather men being poisoned bv
the dead flesh clinging TO hides. IL comes
in contact with a scratch or a crack in the
skin, and in Ilost cases causes death Mr..
Young was 45 years Of age.
WILL you be kind enough, pa" said Bobby,
in a low well-moduated tone of voice ito give
me another piece of piey'
mo, sir" replied the old man, you've had
enough
Ma" said Bobby, You told me that polite
ness always pays" -Nei0 York sun.
Mr.. DE PosTGEy-What a burden war is The
French government | see has recently ex-
pended several millions Of francs for the new