The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-05-15

about gallon thrown with swash over
his bare shouides. He sprang erect at the
touch OF the tar and whirled around just
in time TO receive .he rest OF II on bis
head, face and chest For moment ho
stood .petriiied, the black stuu trickiing
down his body sfid legs and uniting with
n great puddle of il on the ground. Then
he slowly raised his hands 10 his eyesnnd
tried 10 brush them clear, but ns his
fingers had received good share OF the
pitch, he only made matters worse and
droppei his arms again. lie did not
seem 10 be able TO realize what had hap
pened, and wagged his head blindly
form side to side.
"As he stood thus one OF the men took
the upper edge OF the tick and inverted
IT over him. l suppose II was as COM
pleto JOB OF that sort as was ever under
taken; at lesst nothing was overlooked TO
make 1t success. Hodson looked ike
nothing human, but some strange species
OF monster blotched all over with huny
white. His head seemed about the size
and shape OF a bushel basket, and his
features were otliterated In the general
blnckness. When the work was done the
committee gave him 10 minutes 10 get
out of camp. lie was made TO understand
with diificnlty, but was started on the
trail and the crowd dispersed.
"Early next morning some COW punch
ers found Hodson back of building,
lying on the ground and moaning. The
tar had by this time rubbed all over him
and PARTLY solidihed. AS 1t grew hard ii
contracted. and every contraction had
drawn with III thousands OF microscopic
hairs, with which the body is covered. In
places ii had broken the skin, and tho
men who carried him into shed found
blood on their hands. A physician, who
is now living at Tucson, was called In and
attempted to remove the stun with ben
zinc. III was an utter failure, as was
everything else tried, from grease 10
ammonia.
~ saw Hodson in the course OF the
morning. The lower portion OF his body
was covered with a blanket but his face
was spectacle not easily forgotten. The
hard pitch was cracked all over IT, like
alligator skin, and that caked SO solidlJ
around one eye that ii was impossible to
remove it. The other eye was opened, but
dreadfully lnfiamed. AT places over the
surface were sodden splotches of feathers.
"BBiness called me away from FL Paso
for about two weeks, and few days after
l returned Hodson died. Meantime some
of the tar had been removed by success
sive washes, but mis- skin was covered
with minute black specks like the shaved
chin OF man who has heavy beard.
They were the choked up pores OF the
skin and this was probably the real cause
of his death. A short time after the pun
ishment he had been taken with a raging
fever, and then symptoms of singular
blood disorder set in. The skin over the
chest, neck, cheeks and outside the arms
rose in hard ridges totally devoid of feel
ing. These rapidly sloughed off. j shall
not enlarge upon these details, which
might interest only medical men, further
than TO say that the symptoms were in
all, save one respect indentical with
leprosy. This sole difference was the
frightful rapidity OF their development.
"a physician of FL Paso told me after
ward that this closing no of the pores
prevented the system from throwing off
its impurities, and wnen the poison that
every instant escapes in perspJration is
held back or drivea inward, the blood is
vItiated with incoDceivable swiftness.
lie took down book and showed me
case quoted from a French government