The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1912-09-06
PITIFUL PLEA OF YOUNG WIFE
AND MOTHER PARALYZED
FROM HEAD DOWN.

thanasia so that the sufferings OF
unfortunateS such as she may be
ended. Her case has attracted wide
interest. Lying on her bed in a san
itarium, where her physicians say she
may lie ten or twenty years, Mrs.
Harris a few days ago dictated let
ter which was prin.ed in the New
York Sun appealing for legal author
ity for sufferers like herself to be
put out of their misery.
Letter From Mrs. Harris.
y Mrs. Harris letter, which is pa
thetic one, is as follows:
Can the busy throLg stop long
enough from their various avoCations
in life to consider most vital qnes-
ton from one of the greatest suffer-
ers who inhabit this beautiful world?
Various mechanical inventions
are being pushed in which many
shining lights lose their lives, and yet
one question, the greatest of all, how
to end the suffering of hopeless,
helpless sufferers, has never been
delved into.
Here in the early SOS young
woman stretched on bed, immobile
and bereft of the great motor engine
of her constitution for the last three
years, which places her in an abso-
lutely paralyzed condition in which
she is unable to exert a single mus
Gle of her body, besides suffering
much pain, yet in full possession OF
her strength of mentality, Graves and
vearns for that which would end her
misery. which tongue cannot relate
nor pen describe. Master minds or
medical science, skilled diagnosti-
clans and human skill nave exhaust
ed their efforts in bringing about
some relief or cure.
Cruel Order of Universe.
Now. why should not the state
take rp the matter in it's hands and
end the Indebtedness of such poor
sufferc ~s? Let us just stop long
enough to think that when brute
the lowliest of the animal kingdom,
becomes inactive and doomed to suf-
fer it's suffering is put to an END,
and here a human being, the highest
and noblest of created beings, must
linger and suffer on until the vital
organs give way, which may be an
indefinite number of years. What a
cruel order of the universe!
Naturally. ones own loved ones
cannot bring this about. Your ply
stefan cannot do it, for he would be
condemned, so the only means is the
state.
anyone who shall take up my
case, as it requires pioneer as IN
everything, would win an everlasting
debt of gratitude from one of the
greatest sufferers on earth"
The Suffering Woman.
The sufferer is an educated wo-
man of "a, whose mind is keenly
active. but whose helpless body has
been racked with pain since three
wears ago, when she was stricken
with the strange malay that paral-
wed her from the neck down. She
is able to move only her head from
side to side and has lain in the same
position ever since she became az
Hicted
81 am so glad you came" she said
to a Sun reporter as her dark eyes
lighted and a smile of a moment
crowded out an expression of pain.
Il am glad you are going to let the
world know my views on this great
subject, and / am, oh, so glad to Of
fer myself as a pioneer in what l
believe to be a most humane move
ment for the relief of suffering hu-
manity.
81 have. as the world sees it, ev-
ervthing to live for, but l know there
is no relief or hope for me, and would
welcome death.
1--WE have societies for the pre-
vention of cruelty to animals, Wnlch
MT out of their agony sick or in
iured animals, but human beings for
whom medicine can do nothing are
kept on in their torture. Why should
this be? Why shouldn't the state
stem in and do for humans what 1t Is
doing for animals?
ssWhv Should | Suffer-"
81 am a wife and mother and all
of nv loved ones have been so good
to me. 1 have ben denied nothing
that money could provide; the best OF
musicians, diagnosticians, medicines,
nursing and all. They know my case
is hopeless and so do l, and so why
should I be allowed to continue to
suffer? 90
Three years ago this October IL
was taken i'll as a result, probably,
of the duties of wifehood and moth
erbood, had three children. My
how is seven and my little girl is six.
NV baby died at the age of IL
months after l became a hopeless in
valid.
within three weeks after was
seized with a premonition of what
was coming | found myself just as
YOU see me now, paralyzed from my
head down My case baffled the best
musicians. Nine months ago I was
brought here. Ever since ! was
stricken I have been constantly in
pain.
knowing that death will be my
only delivery, bringing me eternal
Deace and surcease from suffering,
Why should I not be allowed to die?
But no, our laws forbid, and nobody
can help me-
Native South CarOIinian.