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HPB-SB-8-175: Difference between revisions
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When she had got through with her communication with him, though she had seemed loathe to bring it to a close, she asked her father (still present) whether he could also bring to her the other spirit, just departed, whom she had in her thoughts. ''“Yes;” ''and again the same occurred as before, and the new spirit announced himself as present. As before, Mrs. H—gave no inkling of anything about him. Only, she had said at the outset that he had died in a very singular way. He gave correctly his name, age, &e., in response to her questions. He was a mere youth, twenty-one years of age or thereabout. Unlike the former spirit, who had answered to the request of his name, first, by his Christian name, this one gave first his surname, and, curiously enough, it was, if I remember right (“Death,” which is a family name in England (witness a watchmaker’s sign in Cheapside). Mrs. H—thereupon remarked: “That is curious; he answers as he would have answered to the roll-call in his company by his surname; he was a private in a cavalry regiment at Windsor, in which my son is an officer. My son has just arrived this afternoon from Windsor, and told me the singular mode of death of this young man.” She then went on to say to him: “I beg you to tell, for the satisfaction of my friends here, the cause of your death.” ''“A bone in my throat'',” was the answer. I exclaimed: “Oh! he swallowed a fishbone.” ''“No,” ''by an immediate very emphatic single rap under the table. “Well, tell us what it was,” said Mrs. H—.'' “A bone of beef.” ''This was a surprising answer; but Mrs. H—told us that this was indeed very curious; and she proceeded to explain. A common trooper, receiving rations sometimes roughly cut or cloven, he had swallowed a thin needle-like slitter of bone in his allotted portion. He had gulped it down, but it had cut its way, like a needle, through his gullet. A few days afterwards he had felt a little uneasiness, had gone into hospital; but became better, and nothing was perceived to be the matter with him, when at last he was taken with convulsions, and such vomitings of blood that his bed was inundated with it, and he died in those convulsions. Autopsy discovered the sharp slitter or needle of bone sticking a short distance in his heart; so do needles that have been swallowed work their way through the human body. Such was the report her son had brought up to her about this extraordinary ease, which had prompted her to try this experiment of communication with the very recently departed spirit, well known to her son, his officer. | When she had got through with her communication with him, though she had seemed loathe to bring it to a close, she asked her father (still present) whether he could also bring to her the other spirit, just departed, whom she had in her thoughts. ''“Yes;” ''and again the same occurred as before, and the new spirit announced himself as present. As before, Mrs. H—gave no inkling of anything about him. Only, she had said at the outset that he had died in a very singular way. He gave correctly his name, age, &e., in response to her questions. He was a mere youth, twenty-one years of age or thereabout. Unlike the former spirit, who had answered to the request of his name, first, by his Christian name, this one gave first his surname, and, curiously enough, it was, if I remember right (“Death,” which is a family name in England (witness a watchmaker’s sign in Cheapside). Mrs. H—thereupon remarked: “That is curious; he answers as he would have answered to the roll-call in his company by his surname; he was a private in a cavalry regiment at Windsor, in which my son is an officer. My son has just arrived this afternoon from Windsor, and told me the singular mode of death of this young man.” She then went on to say to him: “I beg you to tell, for the satisfaction of my friends here, the cause of your death.” ''“A bone in my throat'',” was the answer. I exclaimed: “Oh! he swallowed a fishbone.” ''“No,” ''by an immediate very emphatic single rap under the table. “Well, tell us what it was,” said Mrs. H—.'' “A bone of beef.” ''This was a surprising answer; but Mrs. H—told us that this was indeed very curious; and she proceeded to explain. A common trooper, receiving rations sometimes roughly cut or cloven, he had swallowed a thin needle-like slitter of bone in his allotted portion. He had gulped it down, but it had cut its way, like a needle, through his gullet. A few days afterwards he had felt a little uneasiness, had gone into hospital; but became better, and nothing was perceived to be the matter with him, when at last he was taken with convulsions, and such vomitings of blood that his bed was inundated with it, and he died in those convulsions. Autopsy discovered the sharp slitter or needle of bone sticking a short distance in his heart; so do needles that have been swallowed work their way through the human body. Such was the report her son had brought up to her about this extraordinary ease, which had prompted her to try this experiment of communication with the very recently departed spirit, well known to her son, his officer. | ||
In the ''Times, ''a few days later, I read a short notice of the coroner’s inquest, at Windsor, on this singular death. Also, at Mrs. H—’s I met, at an evening party, the regimental surgeon who had made the autopsy, and who showed me the slitter of bone (much smaller than the bare bodkin, which we knew to be sufficient for a ''quietus). ''He earned it in his pocket-book as a curiosity to show to his professional brethren; and I understood from him that he was about to publish the ease in the ''Lancet, ''or some other professional journal, where, no doubt, it may be found. Of course, we were all impressed with this remarkable ease. Mrs. H—then turned to the spirit, who had remained there while she related these particulars, and put to him the same inquiries she had before put to her old friend, Sir Thomas Kenna. What had been his experience of what we call ''death; ''was it painful? ''“Extremely so,” ''was the reply, the opposite of what had been said before. But this was a death of convulsions and physical agony on the part of a youth, very different from the gentle separation of the slender cord which held to the worn-out and used-up flesh the spirit, ready and willing to depart, of the cultured and Christian octogenarian. “Well, how did you know that you were what we {{Style S-HPB SB. Continues on|8- | In the ''Times, ''a few days later, I read a short notice of the coroner’s inquest, at Windsor, on this singular death. Also, at Mrs. H—’s I met, at an evening party, the regimental surgeon who had made the autopsy, and who showed me the slitter of bone (much smaller than the bare bodkin, which we knew to be sufficient for a ''quietus). ''He earned it in his pocket-book as a curiosity to show to his professional brethren; and I understood from him that he was about to publish the ease in the ''Lancet, ''or some other professional journal, where, no doubt, it may be found. Of course, we were all impressed with this remarkable ease. Mrs. H—then turned to the spirit, who had remained there while she related these particulars, and put to him the same inquiries she had before put to her old friend, Sir Thomas Kenna. What had been his experience of what we call ''death; ''was it painful? ''“Extremely so,” ''was the reply, the opposite of what had been said before. But this was a death of convulsions and physical agony on the part of a youth, very different from the gentle separation of the slender cord which held to the worn-out and used-up flesh the spirit, ready and willing to depart, of the cultured and Christian octogenarian. “Well, how did you know that you were what we {{Style S-HPB SB. Continues on|8-176}} | ||
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