The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1900-01-17
s,As ssAse-Egi sxtaIlaEars
Made by Prot A. P. Brubaker and Other
Distinguished Scientists.

When the negro policy dealer, Robert
w. Brown, who murdered hfs wife, Lu-
cinds, more than year ago, was being
dragged 70 the gallows in Moyamensing
Prison, Philadelphia. on Thursday. he
shudderingly shrieked:
my body will go to the dissscting Ia
ble-to the dissecting tablel'
His religious advisers admonished him
to think of his soul. and not of his body.
Pleading for delay for both soul and
body. the wretched stabber fell through
the fatal trap at the very moment when
he turned his head TO implore the keeper
at his side for more time TO speak.
In this act the knot back of his left ear
slipped TO the base of the brain, midway
between the ears, and consciousness ex-
pired instantaneously at the end of the
rope.
There were those who waited. says the
Philadelphia Inquirer, in tine interest Of
science, to give the murderer his wished
for opportunity to complete his suspend
I'd speech. Not a second was wasted after
he was pronounced dead. An ambulance,
with changing bell and the right of way.
flew through the streets to the Jefferson
College. In ten minutes after be was le-
gally dead he was resting on table in
the physiological laboratory.
Around the table were three of the most
famous psychologists of the scientific
world. They were Drs. Judson Deland.
Albert p. Brubaker and A. Hewson.
DR.. Deland had charge Of the demonstra-
ton.
Could motion and life be restored to
that inanimate body?
For an answer TO this question the three
scientists devoted their energies and the
resources of their skill and genius.
They had all taught that certain nerve
centres controlled motion and action. In
that eminent body. the College of Physi-
clans of Philadelphia, of which the pro-
fessors are members, the theory has often
been advanced that there is no physiolog-
ical necessity for early death. Here was
subject dead to all ordinary tests. Was
he scientifically dead?
A sharp wire, charged with electricity,
was applied to the various nerve centres
Of the body aud brain. A superstitious
layman would have been horrified at the
result. Brown raised first his right arm
and then his left. His head moved. His
mouth twitched in convulsive grin. The
chords of the neck swelled and the mouth
opened as if he would complete his inter-
rupted speech on the scafIoid. The hands
clenched one after the other. a leg was
drawn up and then extended.
Increasingly the electric wire prodded
centre after centre in the nervous organ
ism. One would have thought that new
Cagliostro was at work. At a fresh touch
from the thsumaturgist plying the needle
the body sat upright
Amazing enough was all this. There
was more. The eyes opened. The heart
beat There seemed to be breath. for the
organs of respiration were agitated.
Would he walk? Would he talk?
But, places on the floor. the body fell
back limp. The lips opened without
sound. Science had demonstrated won
ders, but life could not be brought back
with motion. The soul had gone beyond
returning breath. The electric needle had
made Brown do everything but walk and
talk
In less than an hour the nerve centres
themselves became dead. The three sci
entists surrendered the effort at resusci-
tation. The limp body of the murderer
was removed to the anatomical depart
ment on the top floor.
There DIR. Brubaker, who is the demon
strator of physiology in the Jefferson
Medical College. and the author Of text
books used in that institution, lectured
to the students ON Browns body. He
explained to them the operations .prac-
ticed upon the subject, and the resulting
phenomena. Brown had died in q relig-
ious hysteril. By the slipping of the
moose the neck had not been broken. The
brain had been congested. The heart had
been remarkably strong. beating fifteen
minutes after the drop fell. and artificial
resuscitation afterward did not seem diff
ficult