The independent. [volume] (Elizabeth City, N.C.) 1908-1936, 1923-11-09
DISOSWAY AN
ECCENTRIC MAN
Brilliant Diagnostician, a Wiz.
ard at Surgery and an
Astounding Crank

DIR AlphcuS w. DisoSway. As
year old Tyrrell County ply
Sician who was brutally muir
dercd Saturday morning was
one OF the most picturesque
and eccentric characters in
Northeastern North Carolina.
One OF his eccentricities had to
do with liquor and thereby led
to his tragic death.
There WAS nothing fundamentally
had .,bout Dr. DiSoSway. but he was
miS"hicvOuS terror when drink
ing. 1t is told of him that on one
occasion in Raleigh. in n card gam"
in Il room in the Marlborough Hotel.
ne made wager of $50 that he
would diSrObc and walk naked from
the Marlborough to the Bland Hotel
and take drink with the clerk
at the latter hotel. in the very
hotel lobby. Some one accepted
the wager and he telephOncd to the
clerk at the Bland asking him if
he would take the drink Of liquor
IF You'll get aS far as the Bland
with no clothes on and brin" the
liquor. Ill take Il drink with YOU.
said the clerk.
ThereupOn Disosway disrobcd and
grabbing a bottle of liquor started
on his wild hike. The man who
had wagercd with him was appal-
led by his audacity and insisted
that he would not hold him strictly
20 the letter oe the Est: he Threw
y blanket over DiSOSwayS shoulders
With the blanket around his torso,
and ~ other covering. DiSOSway
went thru the streets of the capital
city to the Bland Hotel with Z
crowd trailing him. and won his
, bet. 1t waS Disosway luck that
there wasn't Il policeman in sight
and the curious crowds that fol
lowed him thought they were fol-
7 lowin" freak advertiser" Mothers
/ .Iov" or some other medical con-
cOCtion.
Another time DiSoSway rode all
over the city of Norfolk aS,ridc the
hood of an automobile iii imitation
of horseback riding. In Ports
mouth one night he wagcrcd that
he would take Il goldfish from the
auuarium in the hotel and cat II
alive. He grabbed the fish and ate
il scales. fins. cntrailS. tail feather:
and ali. That cScapade almost
got him in Jail.
ON one occasion. while hilariouSly
DRINK. he amused himself by shoot
i'm" Ill the shingles Of the r"ol
of Il Negro Shanty until nothing re-
ma:ncd except the rafterS. between
The cabin floor and the sky. After
which he good naturedly paid double
| for the damage.
Once on Il spree he amused him
self 10y stripping stark naked ana
chasing chickens up and down ii
ruhIic road, shooting them.
He was Il great practical Joker
and champion mt the sport oil
fro-yin.. One night i'll plymouth
ne went froggin. and caught about
forty bull frogs. An idea occurred
To him and he turned the whole mess
Of frogs loose in the basement "l
the home of Il prominent clti"ch'
Tho basement had been abandoned
and WIS full of water. Inc iro%S
madr themselves so much ut home
in that basement that it took th'
owner Il week to end their h"lSi-
moss bv catching them and putting
them to death.
On another occasion, wishing 10
fri"htcn a Negro servant he stage"
bogus amputation scene Ill his
office wherein kc sawed OH Il
woodcn lcg and then eXhlbited Il
real human leg which he had am
nrtntcd IL few days before.
He would at times remain sober
for weeks and then, with savings oi
81 200 or $4,000 20 off on a spree
and spend the last nickel Oh IL Ill
Il week. r
But with it all he was one Oh
thp smartest diagnosticianS ana
most skillful surgeons i'll Eastern
North Carolina. Some OF MS SUI
sical operations performed Sinse
banded have astOmcd the medica'
nroression. ON one occasion ne am
nutnted the leg of a woman WIN
a diseased hip-joint, taking the ies
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