Daily Yellowstone journal., 1890-01-15
STRANGE ACCIDENTS.


a remarkable accident is one reported by
Dr.. Eaton, Of New York, who tells Il a
woman embrace z a man with fatal effect.
She had tie pernicinus habit ~ common
among women of sticking pins and needles in
the bosom of her dress, and on this occasion
she had a common sewing needle stuck there.
The embrace was IA cluse one, AMI the needle
penetrated the mans clothing and flesh,
reaching his heart and killing him instantly.
The same physician reports n case in his own
practice which probably has no parallel.
When he Was pract!cing In Mobile, Ala,
he was calle. 10 attend a man who had fallen
under IA circular saw in n mill, and found his
patient with his head literally sawn one-half
through, from the top down 10 each temple.
One eye was destroyed, but the other was
not harmed He supposed, as a matter Of
course, that the man would die directly, hut
was astonishrl to find that he was getting
well. For eight days he convalesced, AMI ate,
drank and Sept as usual. A surgeon was
called in consultation. and he proposed To
stitch up the open wound. DR.. Eaton OPP
posed the Proposition, saying that If such a
thing should be done the pus forming inside
the heal could not ESCAPE, and the man would
die at once, On the ninth day, however, the
surgeon sewel up the gap and the man
promptly died.
A similar case 10 this came under nv own
notice about a duzru years ago. | was sent
by one Of the New York dai!ics to n city in
New JerSey-Elizabeth, | think to report a
strange accident, AMI | found that a boy less
than Il years old hal fallen squarely against
q circular saw in such a way that his head
had bepu cut almost in two. The cut ex-
tended from between his eyes 10 the back Of
his neck. lie picked himself up and walked
unaided toa drug storr, where he complained
that he had "a had headache. Thence he
walked home alone, nobody then realizing
how badly he was hurt He was taken to
a hospital and lived for a week. | was un.
able 10 get any further history Of the case,
for the hospital was a religious, not a civic
institution, AMI | was refused access to the
records. | remember distinctly being sur
pri~ed to learn that no less than three men
were then living in that city in good bodily
health. with bullets in their brains. Since
then | have learned of a number Of similar
cases.
One Of the most remarkable Of these wa
that of "A young maj in Texas, who when a
mere boy had a large portion Of his skull
over one of his temples blown of by the dis
charge Of a gun. About two tablespoonfuls
of brain matter were spilled out and lost, yet
he recovered and became quite a brilliant
scholar nfterward. Very few cases are
known, IL Is true. which show such wonder
full vitality, but there are enough Of them
recorded 10 make IL seem almost an impossi.
bility 10 destroy human life, instead of being,
a. II sometimes i, one Of the easiest things in
the world 10 do. The two eases that nave
just come "a notice prominently, through the
newspapers, Of persons surviving the break
ing Of the neck. are not unprecedented, for
DR.. Ernest Mcneil, Of New York. had a
case of the kind in his practice more than a
dozen years ago, aud accomplished a com.
plete cure.
Sometimes desperate efforts NJ murder or
suicide fail lay reason of extraordinary vital
ity. Such a case was that Of Thomas Ham
lon, one Of the Haulon brothers who were
famous gymnasts some years ago. In one Of
his performances be fell from his trapeze aud
injured his head So badly that be became a
violent maniac. cit was found Necessary 10
put him in hospital and confine him in a
padded cell, for he struggled violently TO kill
himself. 1t was thought that he could not hurt
himself in the cell, but after he had been left
there over night he was found nearly dead
and still irving to kill himself ia the morn
Ing. He he'd managed 10 strip the padding
from "a portion Of the floor, and had d.scOy-
cred an iron nut placed there 10 hold a bolt ia
position. 1t projected slightly from tue
planking, and be had spent the night IN leap
ing up and dasling himself, head downward,
on the nut. From the frightful condition Of
the top Of his head it was estimated that he
had don, this not less than sixty times, and
be- was doing it again when discovered and
o~vcrpowerel by the hospital a~ttenlants.
Even more remarkable than his was the
resolution displayed by Louis Lingg, the Chi
cago anarchist, for L.ingg was not, 50 far Us
known, a lunatic, lie procured a small dy-
Mantle bomb in some way while in prison,
and rather than die on the scaffoll he put IL
in BIZ mouth, and in some manncr-it is sup
posed by chewing on it-he managed 30 ex-
plode it and blow his head to fragments.
A very curious case Of death was reported
on Staten Island a few years ago in which a
man died Of h~ydruphobia caused by the bite
81 a blue fish; but it hardly belongs in this
list, since 1t was not a murder, but a death
by a natural disease. Natural diseases. row.
ever, have often been used as the means Of
murder by willfull spreading Of contagion.
IL has been many times proposed in times Of
war to adopt this means Of depopulating the
enemy's country, but no civilized nation, at
least in modern times, has been known TO
adopt il.
Whether nationally or contradictorily,
public opinion, while justifying war, refuses
10 sanction the Use Of unusual methods Of
killing. On this ground the German scientist
was severely snubbei when he proposed TO
produce chemically such u foul vapor that no
living thing within a radius of some miles
could possibly remain alive. His argument
seemed logical enough: that IL there was 10
be war il should he waged as vigorously us
possible and SO shortened: but the world re-
fused to listen 10 him. Poison, therefore, is
not included among civilized weapons Of war,
though IL is freely employed by a number Of
savage tribes in different parts of the world.
II is a little difficult TO see why wholesale
killing should be done in one way and not in
another, but 80 il is