The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1892-07-16
Dying by Inches.

dalOusly and crlmlnally nltny
condition.
Dying by Inches.
It is often said of persons thai
they are "dying by inches" and thu
following account published in the
Statesman of the 10th instant fully
illustrates the truth of the oft re-
peated expression. The Statesman
says that George Glover, undertaken
for Boise City, relates a horrible
tale Of disease and death. He says
that he was summoned last week to
Frank Turner's ranch, about twelve
miles up the Boise River, to int,
the body of George Kavanaugh,
formerly prospector. The dead
man and his partner, Alex. McGaw,
had long lived in a rude dug-out
on the Martin ranch. The dug-out
faced the river, and it afforded little
or no shelter from the weather.
Kavanaugh died from the effects
of q dreadful destroying disease,
akin to leprosy. A number of per-
sons who saw the man before and
after death declared that he had
actually died of leprosy.
When Mr.. Glover entered the dug
out to secure the body of Kavan-
augh he was nearly overcome with
nausea. The corpse was lying upon
a pile Of filthy blankets on one side
of the howell, while not five feet
away lay his partner, McGaw. The
latter is afflicted with the same
awful malady that caused Kavan-
augh's death, and at the time of
the undertaker's visit he was so
nearly dead himself that he could
move only his toes and hands, and
this was with great effort. His head,
arms and other portions of his
body were literally raw. his blear
eyes were sunken, and the stamp
of death was upon his scared brow.
McGaw's body was literally decom-
posing while he still lived. The
corpse Of Kavanaugh was even more
horrible in appearance than was
the body of the breathing McGaw,
but over him the sacred veil of
death has been kindly thrown. His
body was buried close beside the
rushing stream.
McGaw, whose body was terribly
bloated, his feet and hands being
four times their natural size, rallied
bitterly at his dead partner, who he
said was responsible for their ter
rible fate. He said they had been
dying by inches for months, and
that they had suffered intensely.
He refused to say where he and his
partner had contracted the fatal
disorder.
Mr.. Glover suggested that he
ought to be taken to the poor farm,
whereupon McGaw became highly
excited. He said he had always
lived like prince, had been fast
man, and before he would go to the
pauper home he would crawl down
to the river and drown himself.
McGaw cannot recover. His end
is not far away. A man named
Myers will attend him until death
terminates his suffering.
Mr.. Glover said said that the
efluvium exhaled by the dying body
of McGaw and the corpse Of Kavan-
augh was almost overpowering. 1t
could be detected by person stand
ing twenty feet from the dug-out.
The floor of the den, he said, was
covered with blood and filth, and
vermin. In all his previous expe-
rience as an undertaken, he had
never encountered such q horrify-
ing sight.
About a month ago a man was
passing the deadly dug-out and the
fearful odor prompted him to look
within. He saw McGaw and Cav
anaugh lying upon their filthy
pallets, and he fled in alright, de-
claring that he had seen two putri-
flying corpses.
Mr.. Glover took two caskets and
went out there to bury the sup
posedly dead bodies, but he found
tbs men were still alive.