St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1889-08-03
A MAD STONE AT vACHERIE

| MAD STONE AT yACHERIE
'Mr. Jas. A. : 7ewart, writing from tie
Edgard P. o., parish of St. John, La. June
| II, to the P5cayu71e, says:
"There is at Vacherie settlement, in
this parish, a mad stone, whose wonderful
cures in the cases of bites from rabid dogs,
| as well as from those OF venomous reptiles,
are truly wonderful.
| 'This remarkable phenomenon is owned
| by Mr.. Joseph Weber, planter in the Va
| cherie section, whose disinterested nature
causes him to minister to the wants of his
less fortunate fellow-men with hospit-
! ality and munifcence.'
| Then follows an account of the cure of
Mr.. Combre, who was bitten by snake.
Numerous are the sufferers that con-
gregate to be relieved by the stone, and
to all are afforded hospitable reception !;
no charges being asked for the operation
of curing.
'This stone, it is said, was found in the
tripe of deer killed By an Indian hunter,
and presented by him to a pale face
| friend, from whom it descended or was
| purchased by it's present owner"
Mr.. Bridges, on reading the article, de-
| termined to try the stones efficacy, but as
| he could not leave his business here, Mr..
L. NJ Clairian kindly consented to take
| the little sufferer down to Vacherie
| They left here Friday evening, 1une Il.
eight days after the dog had bitten Horace.
Arriving at Vacherie they procured ,sn-
veyance and drove about seven miles back
! to the railroad. Of their reception and
! treatment by the hospitable Mr.. Weber,
! to use Mr.. Clairians own words, 'too
| much cannot be said"
| The stone was applied to the bitten
| hand and Immediately adhered, which
proved that the dog was mad. 1t re-
manned on for two hours and forty min
utes, when it dropped off. 1t was then
| washed in warm water to cleanse it from
the poison it had sucked up On being
replaced it remained for shorter length
of time, and so on, until it would no longer
cling to the sore.
/ This mad stone is about one inch long
and seven ighths of an inch wide, nearly
oval in shape, except where small piece
| has been broken off. 1t is intensely black
and shiney, except on the flat sides, where
awhitish su distance covers the middle of
what might be called the face of the stone
1t is very slippery and will slide about in
the hand like piece of ice. Horace says
| that as soon as it was applied he felt it
I begin to pull. zs.i 5-..
81 While sitting up with the patient when
the stone was acting, the family and the
parish priest told numerous instances of
cures effected by its use. Not less than
twenty FIVE persons have been saved from
horrible death by its timely application.
In one instance six men were bitten by
poisonous snakes three tried the stone
| and lived, while the other three, who did
not believe in it's efficacy and would not
give it trial, died, after untold suf-
ferings.
ME-. Clairian and Horace were given sup
| per, bed and the kind attention of Mr..
Weber and his family the horse was
stabbed and fed, both night and morning,
and when, and after a good breakfast,
Mr.. Clairian asked for his bill, he was
surprised ON being told that he owed moth
| ing. Upon insisting, he was informed
that theresw never any charge made fol-
using the mad stone, but if patients
desired to do SO, they could give the
nurse who manipulated the stone what
ever they wanted to.
Such generous, unselfsh treatment
deserves the appreciation of everyone, and
we trust that the newspapers will spread
the name and noble deeds of Mr.. Joseph
Weber far and wide over this country,
telling the inhabitants that in Louisiana
there lives man who scorns to enrich
himself by making exorbitant charges fol
curing his suffering fellow men. = La
fourc1le Comet .-...