Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1900-10-05
TRY TO DODGE DEATH
MANY SCHEMES TRIED TO ES-
CAPE THE DESTROYER.

Fear of Dissolution Leads Many Men
to Strange Freaks and Unusual Ways
of Living-So Hurries Them
Into Their Graves.
A man who, while poor, is not more
afraid to die than most people, ofteI
develops a haunting terror of deatf
after he has made q big fortune and
spends an unhappy life and huge sums
Of money in trying to avoid the coming
fate, frequently hurrying himself into
a premature grave through sheer worry
and fear. This passion has turned the
brains of good many wealthy people
and made monomaniacs of them. They
resort to the most childish expedients
to keep death from their doors.
You remember Kipling's character
who had his chair slung on ropes from
Il beam that the world might spin under
him instead of carrying him along to
grow older. There was an actual case
very like this few years ago, when
John 1slip, an Englishman. who made a
huge fortune out of silver ia Mexico,
urOfS thIOuSu hoAis IL .
about his death.
After eXhausting all the safeguards
London could offer, he bought small
rocky island called Brychil, OH the west
Irish coast, taking with him one faith
full servitor Here, in feverish haste,
he had four stone pillars raised and Il
small one-storied cabin, with three
9
Oh chairs from iron girders that crossed
the pillars and swung clear of the
ground. Once inside this he shut hini-
self up, with some books and a pet
jackdaw for company, and never lett
his swinging house until his death.
The attendant, who lived in a small
house close by, used to row to the main-
land-a mile and a 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
uc ulcu lAlcC CdlS hulSi III INV NoDiAA'
worried out Of life by the fear of death.
His hair was snow-white, though he
was only 43.
Another wealthy man, Jean Ingle-
SAINT, 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 vast
ed 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 fol
years; if he even stirred finger he did
it with dread, believing it used up his
vitality and shortened his life by sc
much time. He spoke as little as posi-
BILE, sometimes not opening his lips fol-
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 a 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
Mrs. Holmes, very wealthy widow,
who had terrible fear of germs and
Oacilli 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 80
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 were also kept cool
that no current of warm air might
bring bacilli 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 disinfec,
themselves before entering her pres.
ence. They lived in perpetual at
mosphere of carbolic acid, and theil
mistress had to pay very high wages to
induce any servants to stay with her,
London Answer.