The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1889-08-08
A Human Cuculn Der.

1t is we'll known that when cucumbers are first
cut from the vine there is piece which exudes
or beeds from the stem. One Of our prom nent
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 infiame, and an
eruption similar to eryspelas made its appearance
on his hand and extended up his arm ana finally
spread over his whole body. Strange to say,
there was no pain attending these eruptiOns of
erysipelas, and ne continued to gather and pack
his cucumbers and prepare them for shipment
To the great surprise Of everybody these little
erysipeas pimples assumed the appearance Of
small cucumbers. and continued to grow. AL
though Benson kept well and hearty he was COM
PEELED to strip himself and take his bed Of course
the news Of this strange phenomenon spread far
and wide. and the doctors and scientific mem
visited him from various sections Of the country.
One prescribed one thing and another. One
wished to bleed him; wished to cut the Gu
cumbers off: another said not to let him have any
water and they would dry up; another said stick:
hole in each cucumber and they would die and
a new skin FORM another one wished to wrap him,
up in a mammoth pOultice of barnyard manure,
and draw them all to one head; another said they
ought to be scattered Each had different
remedy but all disagreed So there was no hope
that the patient would get we'll. But the small
cucumbers grew into big Ones and his whole body
completely covered with them from head
to foot and they commenced to rpen and turn
yellow and hang down, and the man assumed the
appearance of huge bunch of bananas. When
they got ripe they began to shrivel and dry up
and SO did the man. His sap all gone and he
died. The doctors procured the consent OF the
family to permit an autopsy to be made, for the
benefit of science, and they cut into him with their
knives. and to their amazement found no flesh. ne
blood no bones, muscles, no sinews, no veins,
no arteries; but found only solid mass of Gu
cumber seed. 1t was remarkable that it would
be useless to have the remains inferred and fool
ish to have them cremated. and the widow con-
cluded that she would keep them in the house.
She had the corpse hung up by the hair in the
barn. The next spring of the children
picked up some of the seed which had dropped
the floor and planted them. They grew rapidly
and matured and instead of being like the par
ent stock of cucumbers, they pure pickles,
and needed no vinegar, no pepper, no salt, moth
ing but simple packing into barrels and shipping
to market and selling OF course, news of the
discovery spread rapidly, and multitudes of ap-
plications for seed flowed in like the incoming
tide, and thus enabled the disconsolate widow
and children to turn the cause of their bereave-
ment into a means of maintenance and support
The wind Of affliction was thus tempered to these
shorn lambs. They sold small packets of seeds
for big prices. and could not supply the demand.
The vine grown from the seed is a perennial
evergreen. and can be propagated from cuttings.
blooms in the spring, and bears in the summer a
bountiful crop of perfect pickles The widow
sells the seed at 81 paper.-Griffin (GeorgiaT
News.
The measure of success in any direction is the
completeness of the work attempted. The only
uQQd work iSf hQrOnuh uyar -Ca XipdicatOr