Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-08-28
DID THE ELIXIR DO IT2
A Man Who Received q Dose of it
Dying In South Washington.

MEMBERS or BIS FAMILY TNunrNKD TO ATTRIBUTE
HIS CONDITION TO THE ELIxIR-HE rs SAID, How
EVER, TO HAVE MAsY OTHER AILMENTS LfxfLy
TO KILL HrM-A SENSATION m THE SOUTHWEST
In the front room in two-story brick house
No. 40 street southwest, is the almost il not
quite hfeless body Of Hugh Myers, and hls
condition is today being discussed consid-
erably in South Washington On the
l46 instant Myers, who was .
constant sufferer from rhemstism, called at the
Office of DR.. Hamilton E. Leach and requested
that surgeon to give him an injection Of the
Brown-Sequard elixir. This. he believed, would
nd him OF some of his ailments, and now
she family and neishbers say II
undoubtedly has. The doctor hesitated
for same time before he decided to accede 10
the request Of Myers, but finally concluded
tnat II was good opportunity to test the
merits OF the alleged discovery, and that same
slaughtered ram. The elixir was compounded
according to the great physicians prescription,
and In less than half an hour from the
dissection OF the parts Dr. Leach had injected
into Myers left arm twenty drops Of the elixir
OF Life. This was done in the presence Of DR..
Harrison Crook, who had been called in BY
Dr.. Leach to witness the operation. Myers
said he felt better almost Immediately after
the Injection and went TO attend to
his duties as q night watchnsn on TIN
time dead-and while he has been afflicted by
number OF dangerous diseases, any one of them
sufficient to cause his death, the neighbors in
sist that the end has come prematurely and il
due to the so-called "elixir."
STATEMENTS OF MYERS RELATIVES
The conditions and symptoms, which have
developed from time of the injection up to to-
day, were readily given to STAR reporter by
members of Myers family. One Of Myers
sisters. who resides in South Washington, said
she saw him on Thursday morning, the day
following the operation and he said to her: Il
had that stuff thrown into me last night"
what stuff" she asked.
THAT elixir Of life they're talking about so
much nowadays"
''what did you do that fot?" was her next
query.
"Well," he said, IT believed it might make
me well. People told me il would cure me, but
IL don't seem to be doing it,
Right after took il walked up to the cor
ner of 7th and streets and there almost fell
down. Ny legs were almost useless and stag
gered against the fire plug. I was blind for
half an hour"
Did that do it7" asked his sister, meaning
az don't know" be replied at might have
been that; If 1t was I'll never say word about
His sister then told him he ought not to have
permitted such an operation because his blood
was in such bad condition that he might have
known he couldn't stand such powerful
change.
WHAT OCCURRED AFTER THE INFECTION
The injection WAS given on a Wednesday
evening. No beneficial results were visible
or felt, but when Myers returned home early
on Friday morning his eldest daughter was
n, no sfo Ha mt
o drinking man, but the did not say anything
then. After awhile he lay down on his bed
and he maze very peculiar noises. He seemed
TO be in pain, and chen at length his daughter
went to him and asked him what was the mat
ter he said he was freezing; that he felt as
though there was lump of ice on his
heart. Following the chill came fever and
then there was succession of chills
and fever until typhoid fever came and
stopped the chills. This complicated matters
considerably, for Myers was previously long
sufferer from rheumatism, and had, beyond
question, Brights disease and serious accom-
panying affection Of the heart. For these
ailments DR.. Leach had been treating him
for some time, and it is these which
DR.. Crook says are carrying him of. Myers
complained continually of the pain which was
In his left arm (the arm into which the dose
had been injeoted), and on Sunday the second
finger of his left hand swelled up to a consider
able size 1t hurt Myers not little, so on Mon
day he asked one of his sisters to get needle
and let out some of the puruent matter She
did so and the outflow was bloody pus and at
the last a greenish-tinted semi-fuid. This, the
family claimed, was evidence Of blood poison
ing, attributable directly to the elixir, but the
doctors dispute the statement
NO SIGNS OF BLOOD POISONING.
There was no appearance of blood poisoning
when The STAR reporter went up stairs to look
at the dying man. Not one Of the symptoms
OF that dread disease could be seen
anywhere. Myers has been delirious al
day week. Lucid intervals have been so
rare and SO brief that it has been impossible
to consult with him as to his personal or spirit.
ual affairs. He had purchased the house in
which he lived and was supposed to have ac-
cumulated little money besides, but of this
nothing is definitely known
AROUND THE DEATH BED.
Since II o'clock yesterday morning he has been
entirely unconscious, and when the reporter
left the room children, sisters and sympathiz-
ing friends were weeping over the form Of one
they loved Their subdued cries and the heavy
stertorous breathing of the dying man
made the scene painful one. At the foot of
the narrow stairway, his face blistered with
sealdng tears, sat little eleven-year-old joe
Myers only boy-weeping as though his heart
was broken and bringing tears afresh to many
eyes by his sobbing cries Of Papa! Papal"
The other children are girls, one aged fifteen
the other only six. For sixteen months the
little ones have been motheriess and now they
will be alone in the world.
Rev. DIR. Meador, pastor of the Fifth Baptist
church, called this morning and did what he
could to comfort the stricken ones
WHAT THE ATTENDING PHYSICIAN SAYS.
DR.. D. Il. Hazen, who was called into the
case this morning, was seen by STAR reporter
this afternoon at o'clock. He had
just come from Myers home,
and said that death might b6
expected to enter there at any moment. When
asked if he thought the patient was dying of
blood poisoning caused by the elixir he said:
Had / been called into the case
without any knowledge of It's history I
would not have suspected any blood poisoning
or other exciting cause. Myers condition was
enemic, was weak, or be would not have SUBJ
mitted 70 the operation Of injection"
When DIR. Leach went to Atlantic City with
the Light Infantry he requested DIR. Crook to
look after the case. DR.. Leach will probably
return to the city tomorrow.
Dr.. Crook stated to STAR reporter that the
case was undoubtedly and indisputabIy
one OF typhoid fever. with which
the elixir had simply nothing TO do. II the
elixir had caused it there would have been
active blood poisoning"
MYERS MANY ArLMENrs.
Hugh Myers was a soldier in The union army
during the war of the rebellion, but was dis