RATHER STRANGE—IF TRUE.

Clutha Leader, Volume I, Issue 23, 17 December 1874, Page 7

RATHER STRANGE—IF TRUE.

One of'■the most, painful ■ incidents of modern days is reported to have occurred last month in Phillips County, United States. An amiable and gifted lady, Miss Boomershine, died under peculiarly distressing circumstances :—

It seems, from the account given of the affair by the 'Troy Chief, that about a year ago a family from Georgia, of German named Boomershine, settled near the western line of the Phillips County. Miss Boomershine had an awkward habit of eatingclay which she usually obtained from the roadside. Unfortunately early this summer the grasshoppers swarmed in the district where the Boomershin'es lived, and soon began depositing their eggs in the gardens, fields, and.roadside. It was not long before 'Miss Boomershine began to complain, of internal pains, and exhibited other symptoms of a nature so alarming as to.cause serious anxiety to hey friends. Her fancy for eating clay subsided ; but she was constantly nibbling blades of corn, leaves of trees, dog-fennel, and other weeds, and frequently said she fell a%sif she " could take wings and fly away." At last her family called in Dr. Le Due, of Phillipsburg,'who said he had never before seen or read of such a case, and that in his opinion Miss Boomershine must bo laboring under a mental hallucination. Her desire to-"fly ".continued unabated till the .qther day, when the -grasshoppers commenced rising and taking their flight. Miss Boomershine -appeared -very restless that morning—standing at the Window and watching the grasshoppers,-while her friends were as anxiously watching herself. Suddenly, [as though unable to control herself, she rushed out of the house, flapped her arms as though they were wings, .rose about ten feet in the air, and then fell to the -ground dead. A post mortem examination by Dr Le Due revealed the fact that within she " was literally swarming with grasshoppers." The instincts of these insects prompted them to migrate with other grasshoppers, and hence tho eccentric conduct an<l death of this unhappy girl.