The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1894-06-28
DEAD BUT YET ALIVE
Miss MoIie Fancher Still Re-
mains on Earth.
RIGID AS DEATH FOR YEARS
Remarkable Case of u Brooklyn Woman
Who for FL Years Has Taken No
good in the Natural way.


son lying in trance is brought to the
public notice the question is always
asked, "what has become of Mollie
Fancherl" This remarkable woman is
still alive and is now AZ years old. For
the past 20 years she has remained in
her bed, sometimes cold and rigid as
in death, her room darkened, and her
body performing none Of its natural
functions.
1t is now over fifteen years since
New York paper came out with the
story of Miss Fdnch rs case. This
was the first information the public had
of 1t, Notwithstanding the fact that the
patient had been then in bed for thir-
teen years, and had for nine years
been as rigid as death, the jaws firmly
locked, thus preventing her from re-
ceiving a morsel of food in the natural
way for that entire period. 1t was the
sensation of the day. The press in all
parts of the world took 1t up. Physi-
clans who knew naught of the case pro
nounccd /: hoax. They in turn were
answered by DR.. r. f. Spier, d.. II. j.
Ormiston, DR.. Mitchell, Professor G. e
West and others who made tests of the
case and who pronounced the symptoms
genuine, but who concertedly and
singly utterly failed to render the
poor woman any relief excepting by
massage during the paroxysms. 1t may
be well TO recall the incident which
brought about the strange disease that
has Cox over a quarter of a century
banled all the scientific world.
Early In 1865, when Miss Fancher
was an 1s-year-old graduate of the
Brooklyn Heights Seminary, in per-
feet health but not any too robust, she
was thrown from her horse while rid
ing and had several ribs fractured.
She had no more than recovered from
this when she was thrown from the
platform of street car, and, her skirts
catching In the step, she was dragged
a long distance and her spine severely
injured.
She was conveyed to the residence
of her aunt aud in a few weeks she
underwent most astonishing physical
changes. In turn she was bereft of
sight, speech, hearing and taste. From
fearful spasmodlc contortions, most
horrible to witness, she would lapse
Int hcr
entirely cold, her skin clammy and
moist as In death, The right arm was
always thrown back of the head and
became rigidly liked, and her jaws
were firmly locked together. There
. was no pcrceptlblc heart or lung &C
ton, and the eyes were wide open and
stony. Thus, In the first of one of
these frightful attacks, she remained
for twenty days, and no attempt was
made to furnish nourishment. A year
later her entire body became iigid with
the exception of her left hand, and re-
NAMED so for nine years, during which
time she drifted In and out of these
terrible frances. During this period
she was entirely blind and deaf, but
was able to speak at intervals. The
doctors tried every means in thcii
power TO open her Jaws and give her
nourishment, but were unsuccessful
Then they performed an operation OF
her, making an incision into her esoph
agrs, and endeavored TO feed her IL
this way with silver tube. Then the,
made the astonishing discovery that
her stomach would not retain food
and that the allmentary canal as wei
as other intestines was shriveling VI
and ossifying. Since that time, will
the exception of fruit juice aud little
saccharinc food, the invalid has re
ceived no noursihment in this way, ant
has been persuaded TO submit to in
lection by enema at long intervals
After she recovered from her frs
trance, twenty-nine years ago, she /,
said TO have 7stonished her attendant.
by her great power of second sight
According to her friends she correctl,
A"A'"NSN AhSiNSheo VI uiuOt lun pOllduCt
which actually transplred hundreds O.
miles away and she foretold tragedie.
and deaths which it Is claimed actual,
occurred precisely in the manner
that she described them. Among these
Is mentioned the great Brooklyn Thea
ter fire. Her partial relief from the
frequency Of spasms and frances dur
ing the past seven years is said not &c
have blunsed her powers of second
sight and 1t is claimed that she can
foretell the coming of her doctor and
other friends with precision that is
remarkable.
Having been a close student during
her school days, she did not, like most
young girls, spend time at embroidery
and other fancy work, but during the
past decade her paralyzed hands, with.
out the aid OF eyesight, have turned
out marvels of fancy work. She car.
ried on a fancy goods store at 100
Gates avenue, Brooklyn, and stocked
it not only with her handiwork, but
also with all sorts of contrivances she
had invented for the use of invalids to
case their suiferings. She knows and
distinguishes colors just as though she
had the most acute eyesight in the
world, and she therefore requires no
a@efstauro In producfuo ~oior aaoets