Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1900-11-02
TRY TO DODGE DEATH
MANY SCHEMES TRIED TO ES-
CAPE THE DESTROYER.

r ear or DISSOLUTION Leads Many Men
to Strange reaks and Unusual Ways
of Living-Sometimes es Hurries Them
Into Their Graves.
man who, while poor, is not more
afraid to die than most people, often
develops a haunting terror OF death
after he has made big fortune and
spends an unhappy life and huge sums
OF money in trying to avoid the coming
fate, frequently hurrying himself into
premature grave through sheer worry
and fear. This passion has turned the
brains of good many wealthy people
and made monomauiacs of them. Tney
resort to the most childish eXpedienrs
to keep death from their doors.
You remember Kipling's character
who had his chair slung on ropes from
4 beam that the world might spin under
him instead of carrying him along to
grow older. There was an actual case
very like this Il few years ago, when
John lslip, an Englishman, who made Il
huge fortune out Of silver in Mexico,
drove himself mad through worrying
about his death.
After eXhausting all the safeguards
London could offer, he bought small
rocky island called Brychil, ON the west
Irish coast, taking with him one faith
full servitOr. Here, in feverish haste,
he had four stone pillars raised and a
small one-stOried cabin, with three
rooms, rather like a houseboat, slung
Oh chairs from iron girders that crossed
the pillars and swung clear Of the
ground. Once inside this he shut him
self up, with some books and a pet
jackdaw for company, and never left
his swinging house until his death.
The attendant, who lived in small
house close by, used to row to the main
land-a mile and half-when the
weather permitted for provisions. The
master spent his time reading and look
ing out over the Atlantic from the cab
in windows. His brain had given way,
Of course, and he imagined his life
stood still while the earth revolved un-
der him. He had no relatives to insist
on his entering a private asylum, and
he died three years later in the cabin,
worried out of life by the fear of death.
His hair was snow-whte, though he
was only 43.
Another wealthy man, Jean Ingle-
SAINT, though he had made a fortune by
shrewd speculation, also gave way to
the dread of death. He conceived the
iIno thnt ,,ll n,nVnnnpt and off
ell the tissues of the body, and this no
ton sunk so deeply into his mind that
he went to bed in quiet country house
and hardly moved hand or foot for
years; if he even stirred finger he did
it with dread, believing it used up his
vitality and shortened his life by so
much time. He spoke as little as possi-
bic, sometimes not opening his lips for
days. and was fed by attendants with
spoons. All his food consisted of
"Slops," to save him the fatal eXertion
Of chewing, and his one amusement t
was being read to by the hour together,
for he would not hold book or turn
the pages. Even the reading he did
away with toward the close of his life,
believing that listening shortened his
existence.
One of the Queerest cases was that of
n Mrs. Holmes, Il very wealthy widow,
who had a terrible fear of germs and
bacilli of all kinds. She had studied
the subject deeply and it affected her
reason, to all appearance. The dread
of death seized her, and she was con-
vinced she would die by some wasting
disease inspired by microbes. Knowing
that cold is fatal to the average germ,
she had two rooms adjoining each other
fitted as refrigerators and kept con-
Stantly at temperature of about 30
degrees or just below freezing point.
One would suppose this to be more try
ing than any quantity of microbes, but
the owner was happy in her conscious
ness of freedom from germ diseases.
Winter and summer the rooms were
kept at the same point, and the adjoin-
ing rooms and hall We're ALSO kept cool
that no current of warm air might
bring bacllll in.
This lady lived clad in furs through
out the hottest days that blazed out
side, and her attendants and servants
were obliged TO constantly disinfect
themselves before entering her pres
ence. They lived in perpetual at
mosphere of carbolic acid, and their
mistress had to pay very high wages to
induce any servants to stay with her.
London Answer.
Gardening i'm Africa,
The main trouble III British West