Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1890-03-22
A MARTYR TO SCIENCE.
Mystery Surrounding the Marriage
and Death of Prof. Ponder.

and Death of Prof Ponder.
The marriage of Prof. Ponder had al
ways been great grief to his friends, as
well as matter of amazement. 1t had
been thought that he would never marry.
He was very much immersed in science,
and he had passed the age when men
generally think of wives. Nevertheless,
with suddenness that took away the
breath of his friends, Prof. Ponder went
before magistrate and was married.
Very little was known about the
woman he married, but what was known
was appalling enough. She had had
three husbands before she corralled
Prof. Ponder. On each of these three
occasions, as far as could be found out,
she had married men well on in years.
Each of her three husbands had died
rather suddenly, and the relatives of the
last man had caused some little trouble
by an investigation which was held as
to the manner of his death. However,
in this instance the widow had come off
victorious, and it had been shown con-
clusively that the old man came to his
death through natural causes some
thing, apparently, very much like the
cholera. 1t was supposed by his friends
that Prof. Ponder had suddenly begun
to feel the need of home and some one
to take care of him, and that this had
led him into rash and ill-advised mar
riage, for all his friends were unan-
imous in feeling that the marriage was
ill-advised and rash. Perhaps this may
have been caused by the fact that the
professor, although he had been sim
gularly unwordly man, had managed to
accumulate considerable property. This
accumulation was caused rather by his
neglect of business affairs than his at
tention to them. The university paid
him liberal salary, and he had at diff
ferent times bought property which he
had afterwards forgotten all about, and
kept until it had become very valuable.
Then he was astonished by the amount
offered for it. He generally accepted
these offers, although, as a matter of
fact, they were usually under the mar
ket value of the property at the time
the offer was made. Yet, nevertheless,
the professor continued to prosper in
spite of himself, and maintained large
bank account. He lived in such sim
pie and inexpensive manner that even on
his salary he could hardly have help get
ting rich. So, perhaps, the fact that the
professor had some money to leave, and
that he was not naturally very strong
man, having neglected exercise, and
spent his whole spare time in scientific
researches, contributed to make his
friends deplore the fact that he had
taken unto himself widow who had
been married three times before.
Mrs. Prof. Ponder speedily let the rel
;atives know that she was mistress of the
professors household. She made it so
decidedly unpleasant for them that by
and by the professors friends dropped
of, but the professor did not appear to
notice that he was practically deserted
man. for he was made very comfortable
in his home, and had now his whole
time TO give unmolestel to scientific re-
searches.
1t was about year after the profess
:sor's marriage that he was taken sud-
denly i'll. His wife at once called in
physician who prescribed for the old
man but did not think his illness was
serious. The professors wife told the
in his laboratory until all hours of the
night and she was afraid that worry over
his work, late hours and over-exertion
had been the cause of his present COL
lapse. In this the professor him
self agreed, but the doctor thought
that with rest and the taking
of the medicine he had left
for him, the old man would come
out all right. AS it was, Prof. Ponder
seemed to be very little troubled by his
illness. He knew that he was very
much more ailing man than either his
wife or the physician seemed to think
But there had come upon him certain
peaceful resignation which was puzzle
to his wife, and which helped to deceive
the physician.
On the next visit that the physician
made to the professor he was alarmed to
find him dying. There was no question
about it. He hurriedly called two other
doctors in consultation, and they all
agreed that what had been done for the
old man had been perfectly correct, but
it seemed that he had not had enough
reserve power and good health previ-
ously to Withstand this simple attack.
One of the physicians, however, a
younger man than the other two, who
was himself keen student, and had
been pupil of the professors, took
more pains than the others in endeavor-
ing TO discover the cause of the sudden
collapse. AS the professor in weak
voice described how the attack had be.
gun, and detailed his feelings afterward,
the young doctor knit his brow and
Hooked puzzled.
''By Jove," he muttered, partly tc
himself, for he was thinking deeply and
quite oblivious to the fact that anybody
was very near him, ''this looks remark
ably like pyroploxin poisoning"