Dodging Death.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXV, Issue XIV, 6 October 1900, Page 637

Dodging Death.

A man who. while poor. is not more afraid to die than most people, often develops a haunting terror of death after he has made a big fortune, and spends an unhappy life ami huge sums of money in trying to avoid the coming fate, frequently hurrying himself into a premature grave through sheer worry and fear. This passion has turned the brains of a good many wealthy people, and made monomaniacs of them. They resort to the most childish expedients to keep death from their doors. You remember Kipling’s character who had his chair slung on ropes from a beam, that the world might spin under him. instead of carrying him along to grow older. There was an actual case very like this a few years ago. when John Islip, an Englishman. who made a huge fortune out of silver in Mexico, drove himself mad through worrying about his death. After exhausting all the safeguards London could offer, he bought a small rocky island called BrychiL on the West Irish coast, taking with him one faithful servitor. Here, in feverish haste, he had four stone pillars raised, and a small one-storeyed cabin, with three rooms, rather like a houseboat, slung on chairs from iron girders that crossed the pillars, ami swung clear of the ground. Once inside this, he shut himself up. with some books and a pet jackdaw for company, and never left his swinging house till his death. I'he attendant, who lived in a small house close by. used to row to the mainland —a mile and a half—when the weather permitted, for provisions. The master spent his time reading and looking out over the Atlantic from the cabin windows. His brain had given way. of course, and he imagined his life stood still, while the earth revolved under him. He had no relatives to insist on his entering a private asylum, and he died three years later in the cabin, worried out of life by the fear of death. His hair was snow-white, though he was only 43. Another wealthy man. James Inglesant. though he had made a fortune by shrewd speculation, also gave way To the dread of death. He conceived lie idea that all movement and

effort wasted the tissues of the body, and this notion sank so deeply into his mind that he went to bed in a quiet country house, and hardly moved hand or foot for years: if he even stirred a linger he did it with dread, believing it used up his vitality. and shortened his life by so much time. He spoke as little as possible, sometimes not opening his lips for days, and was fed by attendants with spoons. All his food consisted of •’slops.” to save him the fatal exertion of chewing, and his one amustnu nt was being read to by the hour to-

gether. for he would not hold a book or Turn the pages. Even the reading he did away with Towards the close of his life, believing that listening shortened his existence. One of the queerest cases was that of a Mrs. Holmes, a very wealthy widow, who had a terrible fear of germs and bacilli of all kinds. She had studied the subject deeply, and it affected her reason, to all appearances. The dread of death seized her. and she was convinced she would die by some wasting fever inspired by microbes. Knowing that cold is fatal to

the average gt rm. she had two room* adjoining each other titt«d as refrigerators. ami kept constantly at a tein|H*rat lire of alnnit thirty degree*, or just l»elow free/ing-|H»int. <h»v would suppose this To be more trying than any quantity of microlw*: but The owner was happy in her con >ciou.*ne>> of freedom from germ di*ea*e*. Winter and *ummer the roomwere kept at the same point. ami th< adjoining room* ami hall were al* kept cool, that no current of warm air might bfing bacilli in. This lady lived clad in fur* through out the hottest days that blazed out *ide. ami her attendant* ami servant* were obliged to constantly disinfect themselves before entering her pre* ence. They lived in a perpetual atmosphere of carbolic acid. ami theii mistress had to pay very high wage* to induce any servants to stay with her.