Cochise review., 1900-11-08
TRY TO DODGE DEATH
Strange Freaks of Rich Men to Es.
 cape the Grim Reaper.
The Nest ChildiAh Expsdisnts 1s- sorted t0 by MonomaniaoA on Th1s subject Some 0x the
 Quserest Cases.

A man who, while poor. is not more afraid to die than most people, often develops haunting terror of death aft CT he has made big fortune, and spends an unhappy life and huge sums of money in trying to avoid the com. ing fate, frequently hurrying himself into a premature grave through sheer worry and fear, This passion, says London Answers. hasturned the brains of a good many wealthy people and made monomaniacs of them. They re- sort to the most childish expedients to keep death from their doors.
 You remember Kipiing's character, who had his chair slung on ropes from 8 beam that the world might spin un- der him, instead of carrying him along to grow older. There was an actual case very like this a few yesrs ago, when John 1slip, an Englishman, who made huge fortune out of silver in Mexico, drove himself mad through worrying about his death. 'f-
 After exhausting all the safeguards London could offer, he bought a small rocky island called Brychil, on the. West Iriah coast, taking with him one faith tul ssrvitor. Here. in teverish haste, he had four stone pillars raised and . smslr one-storied cabin, with three rooms, rather like . houSeboat, slunR on chairs from iron gifd CTS that crossed the pillars and swung clear of the ground. Once inside this, he shut him self up with some booksand pet jack daw for company, and never left bis swinging house until his death.
 >, The attendant, who lived in e 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 cabin 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-whate, though he was only s. .......
 Another wealthy man, Jean Inglo- sant, though he had made fortune by shrewd speculation, also gave way to the dread, of death. He conceived the idea that all movement and effort wast- ed the tissues of the body, and this .no- tion sunk 60 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 % much time. He spoke as little as pos sibls, 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 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, bsliev. ing that listening shortened his sS5Ss. enoe. V
 OaS ef the quss1est eases was that of a MrS. Holmes, very wealthy widow, who had terrible fear of germs and baoili of all kinds. She had studied the subject deeply, and 1t affected her req. son, to all appearance The dread of osath seized her, and she was convinced she would die by some wasting disease inspired by microbes. Knowing that cold 10 fatal to the average germ, she had two rooms adjoining each other fitted aS rstrigerators and kept con- s.antly ct . temperature of about 30 esgress, or just below freezing point. One would suppose this to be more trying than any quantity of micr obss; but the owner was happy in her con. sciousness of freedom from germ dis eases Winter and summer the rooms were kept at the same point, and the adjoining rooms and hau were also kept cool, that no current of warm air might bring bacilli in
 This lady lived clad in furs through cut the hottest days that blazed out. side, and her attendants and servants were obliged to constantly disinfect themselves before entering her prea- snce. They lived in perpetual at. mosphere of carbolic aoid, and their mistress had to pay very high wages to 3nduss!Gny servants to stsy with her.