The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1889-01-04
A LIVING DEATH !,
PECULIAR OUTCOME Of the Env,.
RoNMENrs OF OUR GREAT CITIES

Victims Of Paralysis Dragging Their Fed
Along tho Pavement-Ps4ients Who Ar
ss Helpless ~ New Bora InfA,ts-seA
Case OF . Journalsst.
On these sunny mornings, when the
atmosphere ID cool and bracing, one sees
here and there ON tie streets man crawl
ing along aided by a crutch or a cane.
lie is usually bent forward, his progress
Is slow, difficult and painful. His feet
drag with shuttle on the surface of the
pavement His hair is gray, although
his countcnancc may not indicate moro
than middle age. There are evidences Of
pain in his features. There are wrinkles
and contractions that are the cicatrices Of
wounds incurred in fierce life struggles.
The eyes express commingling of weak
ness and despair. His shoulders droop,
and his entire figure has q bagglness sug-
gcstive Of collapse. On his shrunken
lips are hints Of q pleading hclplessness
When no speaks it is with hesitation
and mutflcd tone. His uttcrances come
with difficulty; they ore low, choked,
broken. His speech halts ut short inter-
walls rs II ut q loss for the proper word.
Often he cannot find It, and frequently an
unwantcl and strange term, wholly with.
out meaning, will thrust itself in the
hiatus. Possibly one arm bangles at his
side, loose and limp as rope. Possibly one
leg Is dragged along as v 1t were foreign
body. Perhaps one side or the other Of
his mouth is drawn up with line that
spreads out fan shaped into a series Of
scar like shrinkages. His glance, like his
10 81
his face is spread M expression that 10 .
combination of imbecility and hope. He
Is m object with qualities 90 peculiar, 30
indivilualizcd, that one easily recognizes
him rs the victim of some ono OF the nu-
merous forms Of paralysis.
These specimens taking the morning
air, assisted by cane or crutch and shut.
ding along the sidewalk, are getting to be
frequent exhibition. Whether or not
characteristic of other POINTS, they arc
getting to be an increasing feature Of Chi
cagO.
The men who no longer crawl out to
catch the glow and warmth Of the sum-
msr sun are nervcless as new born chill
dren. Their limbs are inert as masses Of
Yclatine. They are rowerless to move
their muscles, and have to be lifted,
turned, taken up and down like babes.
They must be fed, and the wants Of
bature cared for as IL they werc pulling
infants In the nurses arms.
This new disease IS peculiar outcome
Of the environment Of our great cities.
The atmosphere Of this region Is flued with
. malaria which exhausts, prostrates,
paralyzes those whose overworked Lodies
are forced TO inhale 1t. Its victims ore
not the old who have reached the allotted
span Of their life, nor those enfeebled by
age or heredity, but the men with active
brains, intense energy, boundlcss ambi-
ton and restless effort. It is in tho
nasurc Of a rot which Affects not tho
green, the immature, but the ripened
fruit. It attacks the men who labor by
day and dream Of work by night; it is .
sting whish pierces not tho drones, but
the workers in the human hives.
The idlcr slowly iisintegrates and dis
appears. He passes from q lethargic life
into death with as little consciousness and
suffering as attend the natural demise Of
p mollusk. He is on implement that rusts
from disuse; the tireless brain worker 10
a machine, driven at a high rate Of speed,
with no stoppages for repairs, which car
:ies q tremendous pressure, aad some day
eSplodcs and is blown into fragments.
Over quarter Of century ago there
came young man from AL eastern state,
who in time located in Chicago. He was
finely educated, ambitious, industrious,
energetic and ready and willing to devote
himself to any honorable employment
tie soon secured q situation as principal
CT one Of the public schools.
Further on he gave up teaching and
connected himself with Journalism. He
was for several years valued attache of
this journal, during which time he showed
himself capable, indcfatigable, prompt,
and the possessor of high order of intel
.ect. OF q religious nature, he later ac-
copied an offer to take charge of promi-
nent UNCONVENTIONAL weekly issued in this
city, and became its chief writer and man.
agcrial assistant, and for many years
filled his place with credit to himself and
the periodical with which he was con-
nccted.
such was Leandcr Stone, principal Of O
public school, reporter on The Chicago
Times and afterward one of the powers
that controlled the great Methodist jour-
ual, The Northwestern Christian Advo-
cate. Tho face and figure Of no man in
Chicago were better known than those Of
Leander Stone during al these years.
a few months ago, having just passed
into . ripe middle age and in the very
height Of his popularity and usefulness,
he felt one day numbness IN one Of his
arms. It extended slowly till the whols
arm was involved, and then 1t crept into
the other arm, and SO on and on, little
at time, till 1t had peSmeated and pos
sessed his entire limbs and torso His
head alone escaped. Tho last time saw
him, all below his neck was deal mass
so fur us motion is concerned.
Like one Of Dante's damned, he was
Imprisoned in ice to his chin. And yet
tho savage destiny that has thus impris-
oned him did not have the mercy to de-
prive tho Enclosed mass Of sensation.
Along its nerves travel incessant poignant
pains, which are beyond reach and beyond
remedy. Strangely enough, in this gro
tcsque, unparalleled infl!ctiOn his head
and face remain untouched. His brain 10
rs clear as in his palMiest intellectual
days, and he reals with his old ayiility
and thinks and reasons with his old time
clearness.-"Poliuto'' in Chicago Times.
Why DeUanof IVES Deposed.
To what extent panslavism makes bold
to beard the autocrat Of all the Russias Is
shown by q hook upon 1.-THE Diplomates
Of Russia During the Nineteenth Cen
tury," written by the former secretary Of
legation, Tatishtshef. The AutMor under
takes to prove, though only between the