The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-01-02
INITIATES DEATH AT WILL
he DECEIVED THE JAIL DOCTORS
FOR -FOUR MONTHS.
A Pennsylvasis hoy Who II . Puxzier TO
the Physicisas-He stood
Every Test.

Reading. Pa. JAM. LIN Albert DEF
fenderfer. who lives at Hinkletown. the
officers Of the law rave secured a strange
character. He can throw himself into a
cataleptic state at will. can initiate a mes
meric subject perfectly. can appear as II
dead. can suffer needles to be thrust into
his body. can endure hot irons placed at
his feet. and can resist electric shocks.
the sudden dash of cold water. a plunge
into Ice water and other rough and un-
usual treatment. all without wincing or
showing a sign of life. He deceived the
Lancaster county officials for four months
so completely that he was transferred
from the jail where he was confined to the
hospital. Finally. one night recently his
opportunity arrived. and when morning
dawned the supposed unconscious cata-
ieptic had disappeared.
D~iefrenderfer comes from a rood FAM
lily. but when stiIl a lad a few years ago
was sent to the Huntington reformatory.
There he excited unusual attention among
the boys by his imitation of death. He
could undergo about any sort of punish
ment and had such control OF his nerves
that he could endure pain. and even tor
ture. without wincing. He was on his
goou behavior however, and was finally
released on parole and sent home to his
people In Lancaster county He had not
been home long before he was suspected
of being concerned in a burglary. When
an attempt was made to arrest him he
wounded several c~onstables.
-Four months ago he was placed In the
jail at Martindale. Soon after this he
startled the jail officials by appearing as
II dead In his cell. They thought he was
In a trance. He was seen to breathe. but
he could not be aroused. No matter what
was done to him. with heat or with cold.
with needles or an electric battery. the
young man lay there, apparently uncon-
scious. The prison physician diagnosed
the case as seemingly one of catalepsy.
attention of the court was directed
to the matter and a committee Of three
physicians was appointed to investigate.
The physicians made a thorough and
rigid inquiry. Dienenderfer stood every |
test. On the strength of the report of
the committee the court ordered the lad
10 be removed from the jail to the hospi-
tai. lie remained there as a remarkable
cataleptic patient until Nov. 20. when the
guard at 5 a. m. discovered that he had
WIN him went lie clothing of
another patient, as Dieffenderfer's had
been locked up.
The patient disappeared during a howl
Ing blizzard. For n time II was feared
that he had persisted in the mountains II
he had escaped while out of his mind.
days nothing was heard from him.
Then he was found at the house of his
John Mccarthy, of Hinkle-
town. The lad told the constable that he
had walked all the way from Lancaster
10 his grandfather's: that he had trudged
the snow alone and unaided all
he way in his weakened condition; that
several times he felt as II he must drop
md perish In the cold, but that the same
power which he had employed in
MS game of 'possum in jail and hospital
had carried him through. In speaking of
his experiences while in custody. he said
ne could not keep up the deception any
as II was too hard on his nerves,
that he was obliged to keep up the
of death so very long because
he attendants watched him so closely.
lie is thin and pinched. yet he looks fairly
we'll in flesh. because he invariably rallied
% consciousness at long intervals when
lriven by hunger.
Those who know Dieffenderfer best say
he was not playing possum all the time.
lis condition may not have been total
consciousness at all times and he
nay nave been conscious at intervals and
till kept up his appearance to deceive
hose about him. all for a purpose, they
When in a cataleptic condition
10 is insensible to pain. 1t was nothing
or his arms to remain outstretched for
N hour while In a standing position.
finally the muscles would relax and the
mbs would fall. The movement of his
cart and lungs is normal and the pa
lent can be fed for weeks through a tub
Fading into the stomach.