The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-04-04
HYDRoPH0BIA CHECKED.
AN INTERESTING EXPERIENCE OF
GEN. LAFAYETTE M'LAWS.


How the Disease Was Trented-INvo
Methods OF Treatment Described.
How Death From Rattlesnnle
Bites May He Prcvented-Fact>
wen worth Remembering.
Savannah. Ca. April Sin the years
1Sls-5o-5t was on duty, away from my
regiment. Seventh United States Infantry
actins as assistant adjutant general I'M
der Col Jack Nunroe of the artillery, u.
S A.. who was in command of the de-
parlment of New Mexico, then in a tran
s.tion state The officer in command Of
the United states post in that department
being the civil as well as the military gov
ernor, his headquarters being in Santa Fe.
In the winter of lS0-51 there was scare
OF mad dogs in Santa Fe and as there
We're many dogs running about without a
claimant for their ownership, Col Mum
roe ordered a patrol from the garrison to
go about the city and shoot all dogs roam
ing at large whose appearance seemed TO
indicate that there was no one to care
Tor them, OF that they had any fixed place
OF abode. A good many were killed, and
dogs keep them confined. But it so hap
pened that one of the wild dogs strayed
into the quarters of Lieut.. John G. Parke
of the typographical engineers, L. s. A.,
and his wild, rough appearance induced
the servant of Lieut. Parko Ga boy) to drive
the animal out. but the dog resisted and
BIZ the boy and jumped on ana bit an
other DOG which happened to be there. the
property of Lieut. Beall. The dog-the in
truder-was killed.
A few days after this ] went to break
fast, earlier than usual and no one being
in the breakfast room. l walked into the
waiting room adjoining and sat down by
the fire. ! then saw the dog of Lieut..
BeaN an the corner near me, on its
launches, with fore legs very straight.
and she was sl3rius at me, her eyes be-
ing very CLASSY and brilliant. l had often
petted the animal and she was very fond
of me, but on this occasion she made no
motion 10 meet me, as was her
custom. Struck with the unusual
conduct of the animal l spoke and said:
Flora, what IS the matter with your"
! did not then know that she had ucen
bitten by a dos supposed 10 be mad. So
soon as 7 spoke the dog sprang al my
face, uttering q sort of howl. / grabbed
her neck with my left hand keeping her
from my face. but she turned her head
and bit my right hand. I at once seized
her back of the neck with my right hand,
and carrying her to the window, raised
the sash with my left hand, and shouted
TO some soldiers near the house. The
soldiers quarters being across the mar
row street, Here, men, is a mad dog;
kill it. The dog dashed at a Mexican,
who was leading a burro, but the man
ran into the garrison yard, the soldiers
throwing rocks at the dog, while others
came out with their guns and soon killed
II. l washed the blood from my hands
with soap and water and afterward l
bathed the parts with turpentine, and
putting on pieces of court plaster over
the wounds, which were slight.
thought very little more of the incident
until a few days after. 1 was in the
same waiting room at the mess house,
and there were a number of officers pres
ent Surgeon McDougaH, u. s. A, chief
surgeon of the department, being among
them, when the conversation turned upon
mad dogs DR.. McDougall then told us
that he had been called to see the SER
want of Lieut.. Parke, who had been BIZ
ten by dog some days ago, and was
acting strangely; that on entering the
room where the boy was, the boy was
found in bed. and so soon as he saw the
doctor he pulled the bed clothes over his
head. This conduct, the doctor said.
made him suspect that the boy was in
the first stage of hydrophobia, and to
make sure OF it, he filled a basin with
water, took it to the bed side. pulled the
covering from the boys head and said:
Here, wash your face"
The boy uttered an exclamation as of
aversion and fear, and begged the doctor
TO take the water away. This confirmed
the belief that the boy had hydrophobia
and the doctor had him carried to the
hospital This information, of course.
made me uneasy, for the boy had been
bitten by the same day that had bitten
Lieut.. Beales dog, which had in turn bit
ten me, and il was TO be presumed that if
the boy had hydrophoba from the bite
he received, 1 ran the risk of having the
same disease, from the bite Of Lieut..
Beale's dog. !, however, said nothing of
my apprehension. The next morning DR..
McDougan asked me to go with him and
see Lieut.. Parkes boy. who had had sew
eral spasms. / excused myself from going,
as l did not wish to add to my anxiety,
IN regard to myself. The next day the
boy. who was standing by the fireplace
in the hospital, in which a large coal fire
was burning, suddenly thrust both arms,
with hands closed, deep among the burn
ing Goals, and then with a loud cry ran
out of the door and towards the hills.
A few hundred yards away, which were
covered with snow, he was brought back
and died that night. In bordering over
the possible effects to follow from the bite
] had received, / recollected that while
at West Point in 1910 or fl, l had read in
a magazine. l think in the North Ameri-
can Review. that in some city or IN some
locality, / think in France. there had been
eighteen men, who were bitten by mad
dogs, in what length of time, 1 do not re-
member, that in every case, small pus-
tules had broken out, well under the
tongue. one pustule on each side. That
this happened within nine days after each
had been bitten that In seventeen of these
cases the pustules had been opened and
then burned with red hot iron; that not
one Of the seventeen had had spasms, nor
did any bad results follow But that the
pustules upon the tongue of the eigh-
teenth man had not been pricked and
burned, and this man died OF hydropho-
ba.
also recollected reading in the same
review about a man in France who had
been bitten by a mad dog and had had
one spasm, resulting from il; that he then
determined to commit suicide by smother
ing himself in a Russian VapOr-bath, and
accordingly went into one and had the
temperature gradually raised, higher and
higher; that suddenly the peculiar sensa-