The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-06-26
MADE AND KILLEDA WOMAN
Confession Of Godfrey COOmbS, Chem
iSt and Student.

From the st. Louis Republic.
This is the story of mailman. II was
told by Godfrey Coombs, an insane chem
list, who lives in a houseboat in Little
Oklahoma" He is so old that his pulse
beats only forty times minute. His skin
is shriveled and his voice is tremulous.
The cloud which hangs over his mind is
the memory Of a woman who never ex-
listed, and remorse for a deed that was
never committed Notwithstanding this,
his tale is not all the mere fantasies of a
disordered brain. 1t is a parable more
apt in illustration than many of the vapor-
ings of a moralist. Here is his story just
as he told it without the addition of one
word to contribute TO its weirdness nor
the subtraction of anything to make it
more plausible.
My name is Godfrey COMBS. am a
descendant-of a race of people who were
civilized before other races were born.
The ignorant, confident in their own
knowledge, unhesitatingly assert that
that which does not exist, and has not
existed, cannot exist. My people have
known strange secrets which have been
transmitted from generation to genera
ton. l am a gypsy. The stars in the
heavens or the lines upon the palm of
your hands are open books to me. Only
once have called upon the Spirit of the
Nile TO assist me without meeting
prompt response
s'We are called vagabonds because we
do no manual labor. We do not work in
order that we may study. Books teach
us nothing that some one else does not
know, but in the scrolls of parchment
learned the secret of human life. When l
left my people began TO search for the
vital principle, which is the same in all
forms of animal life. What cared | where
my household ioated so long as | had the
precious treasure of knowledge before
me? l have travelled up and down
the Mississippi, So familiar did l
become with the parts of a human
body that | could analyze them and
separate the ingredients. Finally l re-
solved to create woman. 1t seemed to
me that having discovered the vital
spark and being able to construct the
body, | would have no difficulty in max
ing human being. The idea at first
amazed me, and then ! was irresistibly
attracted by it, l determined to attempt
the experiment. 1t would be useless TO
detail how long l worked before l OBJ
tanned my material. The number of
graves / desecrated and the parts of dead
bodies that | took from them at night
time and carried off to my boat are of no
reyelancy in this plan narrative. At the
end of two years had secured the vari-
Gus component parts which go to make
up a human being.
DAY after day l worked at my task I
wonder now that God Almighty did not,
with bolt from heaven, palsy the arm
that was trying to profane his handiwork.
| We gypsies believe in a God ,notwithStand-
ing the many assertions to the contrary.
l learned 20 love the object on which l
was working. After the lapse of another
year there lay before me one of the most
beauteous creatures that the mortal eye
ever gazed upon. Aurora bathing in the
morning sunlight was not fairer than this
inanimite form which lay on the cot of my
| housebOat. Her brown hair was tinged
with glossy softness that emitted
delice more subtle and fra.
grant than the rarest perfume
! The eyes, half closed, seemed like
those of a picture watching me con-
stantly, awaiting the time when ! should
add the potion that would animate this
! human clay with the breath of life and a
willing slave would awaken to my bid
ding. Impatiently l awaited the time
when the decoction necessary to complete
| the process would be ready. For days
| and nights I did not sleep, but sat gazing
on the beautiful vision OF loneliness. The
! love which a father cherishes for his
! child and the affection of a lover for his
! ullSLEGbS WbT6 COluUlu0u Ill OuG. IL was
no longer a question of the triumph Of
/ science with me, but it was problem Of
! life and death
AT last al was ready. The signs were
| propittous and the potion was prepar red
| trembled with the awful responsibility
! which | was about to incur. My hands
| shook like those of man afflicted by the
! ague, and my brain seemed intoxicated
with the excitement of the moment.
imagined that the whole world was
watching my experiment. l felt that
failure was worse than a thousand deaths
I was trembling violently when | moist
ened her lips with the liquid. No
sign was visible, and in my haste
! | poured all the contents of the
was instantaneous. The atmosphere Of
the room seemed to be disturbed, and
mists hoated before my eyes. Red balls
of fire glared in the air. The sound of a
LOCO tiny bells fell upon my ears, and
white, fleecy clouds fioated in and out the
windows Of the boat. Was, paralyzed
with fear and hope My heart palpi-
tated, and each beat seemed to be a cry
of exultation. The room was illuminated
but suddenly tame, which shot forth
from the couch, lighted up the waters on
each side of the boat with a terrible
splendor. Then all was dark again. The
| pail which overspread us seemed so com
/ pltbt Jlldb ldIClcu L was SuQO6llY
stricken blind.
''Then there burst upon my vision the
most beautiful sight ever vouchsafed to
human being l had summoned from his
high retreat the Angel of Life and the
radiance from his crown reflected upon
every side. He stayed but a moment,
but when he was gone living breathing
creature made after my own design stood
| before me. She was supernaturally beau
tiful, with nameless grace, half human
and half divine. In the ecstacy of my
triumph l danced and shouted like a graf
| iiied child. This creature knew no law
except my will. Ignorance in its most at
tractive form was typified in her. The
cares of the world would never trouble
her because she could not comprehend
them and l was far too wise to teach
them TO her Intuitively she seemed to
know all that was purest and best, but
the commonplace details of the sordid ex-
istence of human kind was q sealed book
"The days passed in the most perfect
happiness granted to mortal man
cared neither for the past nor for the
future, for the present was a bliss which
could compensate for anything that could
take place thereafter.
But for fatal mistake, which was
the result Of my own carelessness, might
now have been the companion of a being
| created by myself and baptized in the
| divine elixir instead of the groveling