Year: 1867

OF late years the possibility of spontaneous
combustion has been warmly discussed
The following extraordinary story, from the
Indianapolis Journal of May lst, is in ref.
erenee to this subject truly remarkable:


We are indebted to Dr. L. NJ. Whiteside,
dentist, Of this city, for the particulars of a
most singular and appalling catastrophe that
occurred yesterday morning in the town OF
Columbus, about forty miles south of this
city, on the Madison Railroad. About
eight o'clock the attention of some citizens
On the street was attracted to the liquor shop
of German by the name of Andrew Noite,
by slight smoke issuing from it. lie had
long been known to be very incorporate
man, and recently, it was supposed in con-
sequence of his wife leaving him and apply.
ing for divorce on account OF his confirmed
drunkenness, more constantly and beastly
drunk than before.


On entering, they found him lying dead
behind his counter, upon board which was
used to keep his feet off the wet floor, with
his head near whisky barrel. His clothes
were still burning His lips had been en-
tirely burned away, leaving a CHASTITY hole,
in which his tongue was seen burned to a
crisp, as was the inside of his mouth and his
throat. His nose was burned as if by fire
coming out of the nostrils. The remainder
of the body was scorched where the burning
clothes had touched, but showed no other
indication Of fire. The hands were drawn
up to the mouth, as if to close it, or shut of
some dreaded thing from it. There was no
fire in the room that DR.. Whiteside could
see, and certainly none near the horrible
corpse. A revolver was found beside it, but
III IL Il. "A avis of
injuries, except from the fire, were discover
cd, so that the death could not have been
caused by suicide.


But if it had been, the lips burned entirely
Off and the crisped tongue, throat and nose,
would have been still more inexplicable, as
the fire was manifestly of very recent oc-
currence, the clothes still burning, and it
could not have been applied after death by
some other person, without detection, or
some mark or other that would indicate
where the FIRE came from and how it was
used. But if is could have been thus applied,
it is impossible to believe that it was, for
there could have been 10 motive to burn
dead man, especially about the mouth and
nose The same fact of the singular char
acter and location of the burning involving
only the air passages, precludes all idea of
death by violence. No murderer or robber
would try to kill man by setting him on
fire, or if he should, he would not, and
could not, put fire to his mouth and nose
only. No hypothesis of murder seems to be
tenabe, and that of suicide is even more
absurd.


We must, therefore, conclude that the
death was caused by spontaneous combus-
ton, or by the burning of infammable
gases, generated in the whiskey rotten car
cass, and escaping by the lungs and air
passages. This might have been caused by
an attempt to light cigar with match
other flame. There are several authenticated
cases of spontaneous combustion on record,
as our physicians know Dickens has cited
a few in justification of the incident which
forms so frightful a scope of his 50 Bleak
House'-but we question if more clearly
marked case than this at Columbia has ever
occurred. We may note that he had on a
soldiers blouse, a flannel undershirt, and
cotton overshirt, and that his hair was not
burned.