The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1927-03-11
FRICK LOSES
GAME FIGHT
WITH DEATH
Young Chicago Man Sue
cumbs TO Creeping Paralysis
Despite All Efforts
CHEERFUL TO- THE END
Doctors Hope Post Mortelm
Will Yield Information of
Value to Science

Chicago, March ll.--(P)-Game to
the last fluttcr Of u stalwart heart,
Albert Frick yielded to death last
night, four and half days to tho
hour after the 22-year-old youth be-
gan a grim battle with the mystery
that numbcd his lungs and placed his
life in the hands Of three score val
lent friends.
He died as twb Of them ceased the
steady cOmpressing and relaxing.
pressing and releasing, that for los
hours and IL minutes had pumped
the breath Of life in and out of the
body chilled into hclplcssness bv
creeping paralysis.
Attending doctors, amazed with
their profession at his ability to live
more than half week although pow
erless>to breathe. knew the end was
coming, but the last phrase through
Frick's parched lips was hating
assurance that "I'm all right"
Little known About Disease
Medical science knows little Of the
disease except that there have been
few instances Of recovery, but when
Fricks breathing ceased Sunday ply
sicians swiftly started artificial res
piration. hoping to keep oxygen fed
to the body tissues until tho youth
rallied from the paralysis which had
set in three days after an attack Of
intestinal influenza.
Working fcverishly. they despatch
ed call for volunteers to aid them.
and within few hours dozens Of
employees of the Public Service COM
pany Of Northern Illinois. for which
Frick had been u salesman, appeared
ut the HOSPITAL and offered their SER
vices.
Organized into shifts Of two men
each and instructed by the company
to remain as long as necessary. the
band Of volunteers took up the ex-
acting work. two at time, forcing
the lungs to take in and expel air.
After SO hours passed and Frick
continued to live, even appearing to
improve al. times, physicians grew
hopeful. recalling that medical rec-
ords described one case IN which a
victim Of the mysterious malady was
kept alive for Al days by artificial
respiration. before death. That was
in 1898, and the patient was a 20-year-
old girl at St. Paul hospital.
For two days, Frick received all his
nourishment through glucose solu-
LlOIl IuJCNkCV INV utS PuAoAS ACu bV6Ss
but Wednesday his condition was SO
improved that he could swallow food
in small quantities. He also became
able to talk more freely.
Sleeps From Exhaustion
Yesterday morning, however, he
grew weaker, and both doctors and
his friends gave up hope. He drop
ped into his first lengthy sleep since
last week, but it was from exhaustion
and last night he lost consciousness
for the first time since he was strick-
en-.
At the bedside when the fight end
cd was Frick's father. Herman Frick
of Crystal Lake. Ill. His mother left
the hospital just before the end came.
Through his last conscious hours,
the youth continued to smile in the
face Of death, jcsting with the men
laboring to save his life. Almost his
last word was an agreement to attend
home coming party his father pro-
posed.
The parents consented to post
mortem examination early today and
a section Of the spinal column was
removed. The tissues will be SUBJ
jcctcd to q series of tests which doc
tors believe may be of great value
in sciences fight against the battling
disease, which was first described in
1898 BY Landry. q Frnch physician.