Omaha daily bee., 1889-07-15
WAS DEATHS AMANUENSIS
A New York Doctors Grim Con-
tribution to Science.
THE DIARY OF A POISONED MAN.
John w. Waters Takes Morphine,
Keeps an Accurate Chronicle OF
His Suffcrings aud Then Blows
Out His Brains.
interviewed the Grim Destroy er.


| physician, feels while trying to end his
life with repeated doses of poison, his
| sensations and experiences, is told in an
| extraordinary narrative left by DR.. John
| w. Waters, who committed suicide on
Sunday evening at his lodging house,
No. 80 College place, says New York
| dispatch TO the ST. Louis Globe-Demo-
| crat. The record OF his forty-eight
hours experiment with death is con-
tanned in u letter found yesterday in his
room. 1t is addressed to his friend, DR..
G.. w. Wells, one Of the medical exam
iners of the Mutual Life insurance COM
pany. 1t is rs cold-blooded and soien-
| tific as the report of a chemical aualy-
sis. DIR. Waters was sixty-five years
old. He had been man of wealth.
| Years ago he was the leading physician
of Carson City, New, where he had a
fine home and q practice worth $4,000
The letter to DR.. Wells is u detailed ac-
count of his sensations after he had
swallowed poison enough to kill three
ordinary men. He intended that it
should be II
CONTRIBUTION TO MEDICAL SGD NCE.
He wrote it as Pasteur might write of
| inoculation experiments on dogs. For
| more than thirty-six hours he endured
| the agony the poison caused him. AL
though his hand trembled so much that
much of his writing is almost illegible,
he coolly jotted down his observations
on the effects OF the poison. 1t failed to
| kill him, and no put an end to the hor-
| rible tragedy with two shots from re-
| volver. The record begins in this
! fashion:
II took, as near as l can estimate,
fifty-eight grains of morphine between
| 10 and IL o'clock Friday night. My
syringe only holds an ounce. The en-
tire number of injections was fifty-four,
| and drank three and a half ounces OF
| the solution" AT o'clock he writes
| that the morphine has not produced any
"soporific effect" But his skin has been
| covered with ''an itching, prckling
RASH" His hand shakes so that he can
| scarcely write. He feels nauseated, but
his stomach is empty. His system is
completely relaxed" the perspiration
''profuse," and the pulse rapid, ''rarely
falling below 100, but varying so from
minute to minute that l hardly know
how to characterize it,"
AT 4 o'clock he writes: 81 can scarcely
believe that such a dose can fail to prove
effectual."
A little later: ''There is no case on
| record of recovery from such dose.
Can it be that this will fail?"
At 10 O'Clock Saturday morning he
notes that it is twelve hours since he
took the dose, and expresses surprise
that he still lives. At 3 o'clock he be-
gins. to think of taking cocaine.
81 do not know the effect of cocaine"
he adds, "and fear it would not be deadly
| enough for mypurpose, but must try
it and take the chances"
He takes five drops and records PRO
fuse perspiration'' and aggravated
nausea" At 1880 his stomach rejected
''some ten or twelve ounces of dark
green bile" which affords him 'some
relief" He finds his head dizzy" but
his hand ''steadier." He comforts HIM
self with the reflection that on previous
occasions when he had taken morphine
the soporific effects did not follow until
| twenty-four hours afterward, and adds:
SIT Will be
INTERESTING TO NOTE
the effects of the overwhelming dose
| taken last night when the time for its
soporiiic effect arrives"
| AT APO he writes: II presume no one
| else ever had so tedious an exit, and |
am at loss to understand it. Of
| course, knew that I could take a large
| dose of morphine without danger, but
| that over fifty grains could be taken
without proving promptly fatal never
occurred to me, and | believe still it
will be fatal tonight, when the soporihc
| effect comes on"
At o'clock, twenty-three hours after
taking the morphine, he experiences
phino being all gone, takes more
cocoaine, and says: II would
like to know how rluch cOcoaine
| ia required to cause DEATH" A little
later he contemplates using a revolver.
~ always had dislike to shooting or
stabbing or any mutilating," he writes
''It seems brutal, but fear must come
to it. 1t seems that misfortune and
failure attend my efforts even to the
end of my existence. Now, If the CO.
| caine fails, the revolver may also, for
the cartridges are ten years old. But
| they have always been kept we'll
wrapped in the original box, and may
| be good yet"
At12o'clock Saturday night he writes:
SIT is evident now that the morphine is
| failure. am very much disappointed
| and don't know what is best to do. The
revolver would be perhaps the best, but
/ have strong prejudice against using
it., and, besides, it would alarm the
| mousse. " "A llUJle altef, . O'CLOCK ounudy
morning he writes: NJ am sinking, If
my feelings are any guide. shall not
| have to use the revolver. ] can scarcely
hold the pencil"
! This follows at $3.50: 81 am exceed
| ingly sick and weak. This is anything
but a pleasant way to end ones life. 1t
is too tedious, painful and distressing.
| The nausea alone would be hard to
bear, but when it is complicated with
half dozen other distressing symptoms
| it is indeed hard to bear, and shall not
bear it more than two hours longer. |
can not stand it. If | do not die by
O'Clock | shall use the revolver. One
symptom did not mention was the
| INABILITY TO JUDGE OF DISTANCES.
Everything appeared nearer to mo
than it was, and in taking up anything
invariably reached beyond it,"
| AT 1:25: 'I am very thirsty from
profuse persp.ration, and water does
not seem to agree with me. What
would | not give for some good brandy
or champagne now if | had anything to
| give? lam tough one, it seems. /
wonder If bullet through the heart
will kill me, or one through the brain?
| must try it, for can not endure this
suffering any longer. 1t is now $50,
and / am no nearer death than / was