Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1898-04-14
He Sweated Gold.

A dispatch from st. Joseph, No,
says Abe Boyle went to Alaska in
the summer of 1896, and was one of
the first to set out for the Klondike
diggings. His claim was one of the
few from which the nuggets and coarse
| gold had to considerable extent been
carried lower down the creek, while
the washing from above left the gravel
heavily impregnated with what is
known as "Aour gold" This is the
finest form taken on by the yellow
metal, which in that shape mauifests
its presence in the sands of all the
Rocky mountain plateaus, and even in
the waters of the Pacific ocean, into
which it is carried by the streams
heading westward from the great con-
tiueutal divide. There is no known
method Of saving flour gold, which
will escape over the quicksilver plates
of stamp mill in spite Of all efforts
to capture IT,
Boyle, during the summer Of 1897,
was much Of his time immersed to the
waist in the waters of the Yukon
Being In the water constantly, his
body seems to have accomplished what
no invention of man has vet done tor
through the pores of the skin there
was absorbed an incredible quantity
Of flour gold.
He was seized with what he thought
was rheumatism, but kept on with his
work until his limbs became unman-
ageable. 1t was as if ossfcation, if
not petnmcton, had set IN THIS
condition gradually spread upward
and be lost his appetite and eventually
became insane. There being no rby-
siciau in the camp capable Of handling
the case, be was sent back to the
States in charge OF friend, who kept
| him lor several months at his old homo
in Lander Wyo. His condition dad
not improve, and he was finally taken
to Laramie, Wyo, where Dr. William
H. Harris, one Of the most noted pmc-
tiuoners in the West, thought he had
locatad the source of his trouble, and
resolved upon an experiment to test
the correctness of hI- theory.
In Turkish bath-house Boyle WAS
submitted Tor a week to a treatment
in which the medicine administered
consisted largely Of mercury. Then
he was given a thorough Turkish bath.
His chair in the sweating-room was
placed in shallow basin Of zinc, 80
that the perspiration that poured down
from his body would all be retained.
He was aiterward rushed through the
remaining features Of the bath and put
to bed. When he awoke be was found
to have entirely recovered from the
! hitherto unaccountable stiffness of bis
! limbs bis flesh being soft and pliable
as an infants, though his mind was
still affected.
The next thing done was to exam
Inc the contents Of the zinc basin in
the sweatng.room. An assay Of It's
contents showed that the mercury, adj
muistered IN the form Of pills, had
passed oil through the open pores Of
the skin, carrying with 1t the -four
gold with which Boyles body had been
saturated. An assay by Superintend-
ent N. A. Grant, Of the Keystone
mine, showed that the value Of the
-four gold drawn from Boyle's body
by means Of mercury approHimated
$27g.
The effects Of the statement upon
the mind were something the physi-
clan did not care TO experiment with,
50 Boyle was sent to Asylum No. 2 in
St. Joseph. He is now in the best Of
health physically, and Superintendent
Woodsou believes he will soon regain
his reason.