Mexico weekly ledger., 1903-08-06
TRY TO DODGE DEATH
Strange Freaks of Rich Men to Es-
cape the Grim Reaper.
The Most Childish Expedients Re-
sorted 10 b. M-onemanIacs ON Thu
Subject - some of the
Quccrest Casrs.

A man who, while poor, is not o
afraid to die than most people. often
develops a haunting terror of Gea;h aft
er he has made a big fortune. aud
spends an unhappy life and huge sums
Of money in trying to avoid the com
ing fate, frequently hurryiug himself
into a premature grave through sheer
worry and fear. This passion. says
London Answers, has turned the brains
Of a good many wealthy people and
made monomaniacs of them. They re-
sort TO the most childish e~Npedients 10
keep death from their doors.
You remember Kipling's character,
who had his chair sung OBJ ropes from
a beam that the world might spin un-
der him, instead of carrying him along
10 grow older. There was an actual
fase very like this a few years ago, when
John lslip, an Englishman. who made
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 a small
rocky Island called Brychil, on the West
Irish coast, taking with him ms faith
full seryitor. Here, in feverish haste,
he had four stone pillars raised and a
small one-storied cabin, with three
rooms. rather like a house6oat, sluug
on 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 jack
daw for company, and never left his
swinging house until his death.
The attendant, who lived in a small
house close by, used to row TO the main
Iand-a mile and a half-when the
weather permitted, for provisions. The
master spent bis 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 I'M
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-white, 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
idea that all movement aud effort vast
ed the tissues of the body. and this no.
ton sunk SO deeply into his mind that
he went To bed in a quiet country house
aud hardly moved hand or foot for
years; if he even stirred a finger he did
il with dread, believing 1t used up his
vitality and shortened his life by so
much time. He spoke as little as pos
Sible, 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 a book or turn the
pages. Even the reading he did away
with toward the close of his life. believ-
ing that listening shortened his exist.
ence.
One OF the queerest cases was that Of
n Mrs. Holmes. a very wealthy widow
who had a terrible fear Of germs and
baeilli of al kinds. She had studied the
subject deeply. and It affected her rea.
son, to all appearance. The dread Of
death seized her. and she was convinced
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-
ytantly at a temperature of about so
degrees, or just below freezing point.
One would suppose this to be more
trying than any quantity Of microbes;
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 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 disinfect
themselves before entering her pres
ence. They lived in a perpetual at
mosphere of carbolic acid. and their
mistress had to pay very high wages to
induce any servants tc stay with her.