Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 January 1880 — A Remarkable Case of Death From Starvation. [ARTICLE]

A Remarkable Case of Death From Starvation.

Yesterday morning at six o'clock Charles A. Gordon, aged fourteen years, died of starvation at the residence of his father, Mr. T. J. Gordon, on Fortyfourth street, Lawrenceville. The case is one of the most remarkable on record, and at the same time one of the saddest. For four weeks the lad has lived without tasting the least bit of food or drinking a drop of water. Several prominent physicians, among whom were Drs. E. H. Hanna, B. M. Hanna, Jr..P. Bier and H. H. Clark, were interviewed on the subject, and they all join in saying that they have never seen nor heard of an instance to equal the one in question. • A reporter of the Fbsl called upon the bereaved family yesterday afternoon, and obtained from Mrs. * Gordon a statement of the case, which is as follows: About three years ago Charlie became afflicted with catarrh of the head, and has ever since then been troubled with the disease. Several months ago there appeared on his neck a large lump which increased in size until it resembled a tumor. It was not a tumor, however, but was attributed by some to scrofula. This caused him to hold his head in a twisted position, which was quite painful. The little fellow soon began to complain of being ill, and said it was very difficult for him to eat. He grew rapidly worse, and finally became so weak that he had to take his bed on Thanksgiving Day. From that time on he could not swallow a morsel of food or a particle of water. Otherwise the boy was perfectly well. .The case completely baffled the attending physician, Dr. Bruce, of Fourth avenue. It appears that the entire roof of Charlie’s mouth and the inside of his throat, including the esophagus, dr stomach tube, was eaten away. In a few days he became terribly reduced in flesh and grew weaker every hour. After using every means known in medical science to save the lad’s life, and finding that they failed, Dr. Bruce gave up all hopes ot his recovery. This was only a week after he took his bed, and the physicians who have been watching the case felt sure he could not live longer than a couple of days. But they were astonished as he lingered on from day to day, and did not die until fully three weeks after he had been given up, and all that time without nourishment of any kind. The poor little fellow’s sufferings were terrible, and the story, as told by Mrs. Gordon, could not fail to bring tears to the eyes of the strongest man. For several days after he was confined to his room the smell and sight of cooking victuals would almost make him wild, and he would crave for them for hours at a time. It finally him so much that the cooking was done in the house of a neighbor. Everything he desired, even to the choicest dainty, was produced, but when set before him he could only place a bite on his tongue, but could not swallow it, and finally had to spit it out. The same with water. They would place a cup of the fiuid to his lips, but his power for sipping it was gone. So utterly helpless did he look that. he was a most distressing spectacle. He continued to get thinner and thinner until he was a mere skeleton, and it is said was drawn up like a little old man. His voice became a husky whisper, and it was with the greatest difficulty that he could talk at all. At night he seemed to sleep very well, but the moment he awoke he commenced to beg for something to eat or drink. On several occasions he would tell his mother that during the night be < had such a beautiful dream about grand suppers where he could eat with the greatest of ease. Then realizing that it was only a dream he would burst out in sobs. The other day he asked her if they would have a good dinner for him in Heaven, and being answered in the affirmative, said he wanted to go there. On Christmas and up to the time of his death his agony Was heartrending. He appeared to be crazy for water only toward the last. One day he told them to put a hose in the window -and run the room full of water so that he would be covered with it. He thought he would burn up if they didn’t. On another occasion 1 at his request they laid him in the bathtub and let him roll in the water, but he was not relieved. Seizing a small hose he run some water in his ear in a wild effort to get some to his stomach, but this failed also. After a night’s horrible agony he died yesterday morning, literally of starvation, while he was surrounded with food and drink. He was in full possession of his senses until the last moment. What was the real cause of the eating away of the roof of the mouth and the esophagus is not known. Some attribute it to a scrofulous affection, while others consider it a sort of cancer.— Pittsburgh Post. —The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, in an opinion on a suit arising out of a church debt, said: “Corporations like individuals, must do without conveniences when they have not the money to pay for them.”