The Washington bee., 1908-11-21
WEALTHY DOCTOR
TELLS HOW HE DIES
Il Feel the Soul Fleeing" His
Record Ends--A Remarkable
Narrative Discovered.
HIS YOUNG WIFE FINDS BODY
Scientists Dying Memorandum to
Be Added 10 the Data of PSYCHE
cal fsesearCh-Ill Health the Mo-
tive for His Dramatic and SpeCta-
CuIar Suicide.

Cincinnati Devotion TO science
dominated DR.. J. J. Blail even in
his resolution to die, and after
drinking cyanide of potassium, he
sat at his desk and wrote a descTip-
ton Of his sensations He chroni-
cled the phenomena of dying, as
long as he could direct his pen, as
faithfully as those of any OF the
thousands of other cases in his
medical experience. II was evident
from the memorandum found by
his young wife shortly after she dis
covered his body that the physician
to the last was interested keenly IN
what. perhaps. ne regarded only as
his final great experiment. The
point of greatest interest is that in
his last moments he seemed to eX-
perience proof of after life. Instead
of recording that he felt darkness
descending upon him. as might be
expected of purely physical sensa-
tions, he wrote as If his real self
was quitting his body. Coming from
a scientist, a man 81 years old, who
not only was a successful practition-
er, but as a chemist amassed mil
lions in the aEufacture of medi-
cines. the sentence is consid-
cred of vital Importance.
81 feel the soul fleeing" it ran.
DR.. Blair was not given to f1guT
Of speech. He was intensely prsCa-
cal and noted for calling a spade a
spade 1t is believed by HIS asso-
ciates he meant exactly what he
wrote: that he felt his conscious
ness not being extinguished, but sim
ply withdrawn from further control
Of the flesh They insist If his SEN
sstion had been merely the ap-
preaching cessation of his material
life he would have written, Il feel
the end coming" or simply, Il am
dying" It is the intention of sew
eral of his friends to send a report
of the case to the American Society
for Psychical Research, in the belief
it will be regarded by that body as
a valuable addition to the data of
the search for spiritual experiences.
The pen with which DR.. Blair
wrote the story OF his death still
was in his hand when Mrs. Blair
found him dead. His wife was away
from him only for a few minutes be-
fore and after he died. He wrote
letter early in the afternoon, and
asked her to mail it for him. She
went directly TO the nearest mail
box and returned. In that brief in
tervaI, however, her husband not
only swallowed the poison, but found
time TO write what he felt.
Il have just sent my wife out to
mail letter" DR.. Blair wrote. "She
little thinks that when she returns
I will be dead. ! have taken Cyan
lde of potassium, and already feel
myself going into a strange sphere.
It is sublime. Five minutes have
passed and I feel the soul fleeing" "
Then followed a blur, showing that
the physician had tried to write
more. but the poison had taken eff
feet. A few moments later he was
found dead,
III health was the motive for the
suicide. DR.. Blair chose historical
Stony Point, a tiny river peninsula
in Riverside, a suburb of this city.
as the scene Of his spectacular and
dramatic suicide His magnificent
bungalow, on the river bank above,
with within his sight and his fast
steel launch and boats were moored
Dearbv in the river