The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1889-05-16
WHOLE NO. 264
A HUMAN CUCUMBER.
The Arabian Nights OutdOne in Peace.
fHl GeOrgia.

fnl Georgia.
From the Grnn (Ga") News.
1t is we'll known that when cucum-
bers are first cut nom the vine there
is piece which exudes or bledes from
the stem. One OF our prominent
Northern truck growers, Jared Benson,
cut his hand a year or two ago and this
juice got into the cut and his hand
commenced to inflame, and an erup-
ton similar to erysipelis made its APP
pearance on his hand and extended
up his arm, and finally spread over
his whole body. Strange to say, there
was no pain attending these erup-
tions of erysipeas, and he continued
to gather and pack his cucumbers and
prepare them for shipment. To the
great surprise of everybody these little
eryispeas pimplos assumed the ape
pearance and form OF q small cucum-
bers and continued to grow. AL.
though Benson kept we'll and hearty
he was compelled to strip himsef and
take to his bed OF course the news
OF this strange phenomenon spread
far and wide and the doctors and
scientific men visited him from var
ious sections of the country. One pre-.
scrbed one thing and ore another
One wished to bleed him; one wished
to cut the cucumbers off; another
said not to let him have any water
and they would dry up; another said
stick a hole in each cucumber and
they would die and new skin form
another wished to wrap him up in q
mammoth poultice OF barnyard man.
ure ard draw them all to one head;
another said they ought to be scatter
ed.
Each had q different remedy, but
all disagreed. So there was some
hope that the patient would get we'll.
But the small eucumbers grew into
big ones, and his whole body was com
pletely covered with them from head
to foot and they commenced to ripen
and turn yellow and hang down, and
the man assumed the appearance OF "a
huge bunch OF bananas When they
got ripe they began to shrivel and dry
up, and so did the man. His sap was
all gone and he died. The doctors
procured the consent of the family TO
: permit an autopsy tn be made, ior the
l benefit of science, and they cut in him
, with their knives, and to their amaze
ment found no flesh, no blood, no
bones, no muscles no sinews, no veins,
no arteries but found one solid mass
Of cucumber seeds. IL was so remark
able that it would be useless to have
the remains inferred and foolish to
have them cremated and the widow
concluded thatrshe would keep them
y in the huuse. She had the curp,e'
;. hung up by the hair in the barn. The
I next spring some of the children
!. picked up some OF the seed which had
dropped on the door and planted
them.
). They grew rapidly and matured,
and instead OF being like the parent
y stock OF cucumbers. they were pure
pickles and needed no vinegar. ne
pepper, no salt, nothing but simply
i. packing into barrels and shipping to
market and selling OF course, news
Of the discovery spread rapidly and
multiludes Of a applications Tor seed
flowed in like incoming tide, aud thu.
enabled the disconsoluie widow and
). children TO turn the cause Of ih,ir be
!, reavement intoa u means OF mainl,i II
ance and support. The wind of aitle
tion was thus tempered 10 these sholi
lambs They sold small packets OF
seeds for big prices and could not sup
ply the demand The vine grown
from the new seed is a perennial ever
g. green and can be propagated iron
y cuttings, blooms in the spring nm,
II beans in the summer n bountiful crol
!. Of perfect pickles The widow sill
v the seed at II Il paper,
"A