Telegram-herald., 1891-12-30
FIELD REFUSES TO IlT.
9hs aieh Man's Son Proposes 20
Starve Himself.
his KEEPERS l.lDzED At his GRIT
uaabls 20 Decide Whsshsr Ne IL tnsaas
or hiunsg- ratsss n . Sssa Eats
or 10 feresA to ao - 0s
Win DIs.

Egw YoRx, Dee. % Edward n.
Field il alarming tie keepers of Lud-
low street jail. He stili persists in fast
ing aud refuses now TO even take tho
brandy that was prescribed by the jail
phys.cian- When be arose a. \ IN.
he wss very weak and nervous To
questions put TO him BY the warden he
made no reply. A cup OF milk was
brought 10 him. lie raised the cup to
his lips several times. but did not
swallow any Of It.
Insasity or . aiuG
Scarcely able TO staud alone, his
eyes deep sunken In their sockets. his
hands th.n and coloriesA fie.d Is very
near TO death IS result Of his insanity
or his desperate game Of bluff, which.
ever is may BE-. In all the time young
Field has been in Ludlow Street Jail
he has net eaten a. much as half
grown boy would at siagle meal He
Is starving himself to death.
Hsw They Do It In Asyiums.
This is frequent thing in insane
asyluras where patients cftcn refuse
to eat They sometimes laoor under
the delusion that all food offered them
is poisoned. and sometimes the
disease Of tho mind disorders the
nervous system so that food is re-
pulsive and the feeling Of hunger is un-
perceived In insane asylums where
physicians have absolute power over
the inmates prompt and heroic. though
perhaps rather unpleasant, meas
ures are used. The stomach pump
is bro0ght and the patient held
while tho tube Is thrust down
his throat into his stomach. The
tube at the other end of the apparatus
is put into bowl Of soup or broth and
tho ordinary pumping process is re-
versed A. much soup and broth -
the doctor thinks necessary for . meal
10 forced into the would.bs faster's
stomach.
But whether County Physician Cosby,
who il Fields of1cial doctor. will feel
that he has right to do this in his case
il uncertain. He has done nothing
Of the sort yet. and viii not until
all hope Of Field living with
out it is past He scarcely feels war
ranted in assuming that Fields refusal
to eat is merely one of the stops he
has taken to create an impression that
he is crazy. and yet it will not do to
let the man die.
Thiak He Il Crazy.
Field has already been declared in
sane by several authorities. and the
Jail officials incline to this belief. No
one saw Field Monday but DR.. Cosby.
He found his condition little changed.
save that he was weaker. He must
grow weaker and weaker day by day
an long as his self-imposed fast lasts
unless food is forced into his stomach.
Hi LILO in Jail.
But one thing in the world seems TO
interest the prisoner. Every morning
he asks for the newspapers and reads
everything concerning his poor old
fathers condition and then throws
the papers away. He looks at
nothing else in them, and is
not satisfied until they are taken
out Of his sight. Each morning he is
helped down into the prisoners sitting
room, where he lies all day on . sofa,
motionless, wide-eyed, and, as far as
appearances 20, senseless He never
speaks to anyone save when Warden
Dunlap asks him . question. and
then only in nonosyllables. He is
SO weak that he has to be helped
up and down the stairs from his cell to
the sitting-room in the morning and
back again at night Ho seems deter
mined to end his life by starvation, and
unless he changes and consents to eat
enough 70 keep him alive some steps
win doubtless be taken. Knives, glass,
firearms and everything else with
which he might commit suicide arc
aa..>fs.l,s= Lat xass4 <,f HE cl