Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1890-08-16
A soRRowFuL AND SOLITARY LIFE.
The Pitiful and Touching Story OF Joseph
MerricIS, the Elephant Man.

~AAN AeAAhA story OF Joseph
Merriek, the Elephant Man.
We can remember no invented tale
that speaks so to the heart at once of the
cruelty Of life and the beauty of human
compassion as the true story closed by
sentence in the newspapers announcing
that Joseph Merrick, the elephant
man." was dead.
Imagine a human soul clothed in a
body so unspeakably frightful that see
ing 1t men turned sick with loathinr and
women tainted; being who had to be
conveyed from plaza to place in secret;
who hardly dared 10 venture abroad
even by night; who, finding his fellow
creatures ran from him, grew terrified
by the terror he created, and shuddered
In dark corners like hunted beast
Imagine him driven by starvation to ac-
cept showman's offer and be exhibited
to the most brutal of audiences, that
commonly enough shrieked and ran pell
nell from the tent as soon as the curtain
was drawn
Early in 1886 Frederick Treves, one of
the surgeons of the London hospital,
found Merrick in penny show, in a
room off the Whitechapel road, crouch
ing behind an old curtain and trying to
warm himself over brick that was
heated by gas jet. Mr.. Treves went
up to him not only without fear or loath-
ing, but with sympathy. For the first
time in his life of twenty-four years Mer- :
rick heard kind word and was spoken to
like man. The effect was curious. 1t
made him afraid at first He shrank as an
ordinary man would from something IN
canny. Then, as he began to realize the
truth, he broke into sobs of gratitude.
Days and even weeks passed, however,
before he recovered from the shock of
hearing compassionate word.
The police prohibited his show on the
ground of public decency. So he went !,
to Belgium, where again the police in !
terfered, and where an agent decamped !.
with his money. Merrick was left desti
tute and starving in the streets of a for
elgn town, where the ignorant mol
thought him fend.
He came back to London-how, ne
no one quite knows. At every station !,
and landing place crowds logged him
Steamers refused to have him on board
But he came back to London, becaus,
IN London lived the only man who hat
ever given him kind word. He mad
his way to the London hospital, founl
Mr.. Treves, who had him lodged for
time in an attic in the hospital, and de
termined to find permanent shelter 70
him.
But now it was found that no institr
ton would receive him. The royal hos
pital for incurables and the British HON
for incurables alike declined to take hi1
in unless sufficient funds were fortl
coming to pay for his maintenance f
life. He himself begged that he migl !
be placed in blind hospital. 1t is ha1
to match the pathos of this plea
Then in November, 1886, Carr Conn
chairman of the London hospital, wro
to The Times asking help for this cas-
and the British public responded.
room was built for Merrick on IL
ground floor in a remote wing of the he
pital, and there, surrounded with boob
| flowers and hundred tokens Of Il
kindness that is really quick in the pu
lie heart, he lived.
He had found many friends tt
! Prince and Princess of Wales, Mr.. ella
stone, Mrs. Kendall and others. To Nj "a
Kendall is due the happy suggestion tn
| Merrick should be taken to see
Christmas pantomime at Drury Lar
She engaged the royal box; she had hi
brought to the theatre, and took eve
precaution that no strange eye Shot
! see him. Hidden from the house behi
the curtains of the box, the ''elepha
man" tasted an hour or two Of intoxic
ing happiness. 1t was all real to him.
the fairies, the splendor and the jewel
Merrick, in spite of his hideous
terror and terrible experiences, was
his way a gentle sentimentalist, a /
gushed forth at times, under the hap. {
conditions of his life at the hospital,
verse modelGd on the hymns Of ]
Watts, in which he gave utterance
feelings of gratitude, the sincerity i,
which none ever questioned. 1t wa
tender heart that was beating beneat,
mask more hideous than that of Ors-
Above all, it was heart that was fila Fl
with love for the man who was literf' 70
his saviour, who first spoke kindly, u
him, who rescued him from a fate r.
thousand times worse than death, anco'
the end was both his doctor and
friend. Recently, it was only Mr.. Ire =.
who could thoroughly understand
poor creatures manned utterances; : 4
to Mr.. Treves he chung to the last
the wistful trust and affection of du',
animal.-London Speaker. ~