Year: 1877

A very singular case has lately come to
light in one of the fashionable boarding
houses situated on Twenty-third street,
next door to the Catholic Church of St.


Vincent de Paul Washington and his
cherry tree have been outdone. and the
facts are so curious as to give them almost
the color of fiction yet they are vouched
for by responsible parties, who have
studied the phenomenon from its incep-
ton. Last summer g. bright, healthy
young man, residing in the house in
question, partOok freely Of cherry pie, a
dish of which he was exceedingly fond,
and, by some inadvertence, swallowed
a cherry stone. He thought nothing of
the occurrence at the time, as it
caused him no material inconvenience;
but at the end of a week or ten days
he was seized with violent pains in the
stomach, from which the simple remedies
at hand offered him no relief. 1t was
pitiable to witness his sufferings, so intense
and eXcruciating did they appear to be.
The young man continued to suffer, and
grew thinner and thinner day by day.
AT the end of six weeks he had become
so feeble that he was compelled to leave
his business and confine himself to bed


His mother, an estimaDle lady, who re-
sided in the interior of the State was sent
for and nursed him assiduously day and
night The most discouraging thing in
the whole case was that none of the
physicians who were called in could de-
termine the character of his disease. The
symptoms were entirely unique. The
young man, whose name was Henderson
the Christian name being withheld at
the request of relatives-said that he
experienced a sensation as if some
thing were gradually spreading among and
tying up his intestines. The physicians
arrived at the conclusion that he was af-
f1icted with worms, and treated him ac-
cordingiy, but with no effect. Whatever
the disease was, it seemed to battle the
pharmacOpeia, and the doctors and the
heart broken mother were obliged to stand
idly by and see young Henderson die be-
fore their eyes. In the meantime his
suffering increased Sleep was almost a
stranger to him, and he complained more
and more of the peculiar feeling of a
vitality in the intestines distinct from his
own. After lying for four months, he
died in great agony. Weak as he was, he
seemed to be possessed of a fictitious
strength, and at the time of his exertiOns
in the paroxysms of agony to which he
was subjected, two could with difficulty
hold him on the bed. After young
HendersOn's death, the case had excited
so much attention in medical circles, the
consent of the mother was obtained TO an
autopsy being made upon the body. In
vitations were sent to several physicians
of the city, and the investigation com
menced of what was to be cause celebrc
in medical history. On opening the body,
incredible as it may appear, it was dis
cOgcred that the cherry stone had sDrouted
in the stomach of the unfortunate young
man. The assembled doctors could hardly
credit the testimony of their own eyes,
palpable although it was before them. By
some peculiar process the cherry stone, after
having become lodged in young Hender-
sons stomach had actually sprouted as
thrifty as if had been planted in the
ground. The S, 'nge pains in the young
man were now az 0unted for, for proceet


ing from the cherry y-stone were shoots OF
fibers which had ramifed through the in
testines of the victim, and, in some in
stances, had coiled themselves tigh ly
around them. In the vicinity of the
heart there were number of these
shoots, and one of them, larger than the
rest, in pressing upon this organ, had
been the immediate cause of death. Of
these shoots there were in. all fourteen,
varying in length from three to nine
inches. In color they were white, with
a faint yellowish green tinge toward the
base. The shoot which had pressed against
young Henderson's heart was considera-
bly, thicker and larger than the rest, and
had a peculiar reddish tinge, which the
others had not The shoots were so
closely twined and twisted around the in
testines that it was found impossible to
remove them, and 50 they have not been
preserved to science. The case, however,
was so entirely SUI generis that in all
probability full and scientific account of
it will be written and published by the
physicians and surgeons interested in it.
What has been recorded here is plain,
unvarnished statement of fact, stripped of
all technicalities or speculations.-N. Y.
Mercury.