Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 March 1883 — A Mother Killed by Sudden Joy. [ARTICLE]

A Mother Killed by Sudden Joy.

Joy is said sometimes to kill outright, though such cases are extremely rare. A perfectly authentic and quite recent instance of such an occurrence may be •worth recording. A certain Mme. Laroche, who kept a little mercer’s shop in the Rue Oberkampf, in Paris, had a son who, when his turn came for conscription, unfortunately drew a “bad number,” and had to go as a marine to Saigon. There he remained several months. He was then transferred to Gaudeloupe; but the letter in which he announced the fact to his mother never reached her. She continued writing to and, as her letters received no reply, she fell into a state of utter despair, and concluded that her son was dead. Last Monday evening, however, the young nan, having leave to return to France, unexpectedly' presented himself in his mother’s shop and threw himself into his mother’s arms. The poor woman, stupefied at liis sudden apparition, uttered a cry of joy, when all at once she reded and fell dead to the floor.— St. James Gazette.