Rensselaer Union, Volume 5, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 August 1873 — Attempt at Self-Starvation. [ARTICLE]

Attempt at Self-Starvation.

One of the rarest forms of suicidal mania is puzzling the dwellers in Ward 1, in the case of a youth who is deliberately starving himself to death. He is the son of Mrr Charles Dexter, nnd had been employed in his fa+her’s bakery on Carew street. Until half a year ago he was much like other young men, but since has grown listless and at times morose. About six weeks since he stopped eating; for a day or two little notice was taken of his conduct, but as he persisted in it, his friends became alarmed, and-in every way exerted themselves to tempt his appetite. It was Useless; he said he didn’t want anything to eat; and at last food wits'actually forced into his mouth. His physician was puzzled, for there seemed to' be nothing the matter with him physically. In the hone that exercise woultl restore his appe'titeTiis father purchased a horse and wagon for him, but the youth utterly 'declined to ride. A man was then employed to take care of him, with doctor’s orders to keep him in the open air a part of every day, but the boy would ask to be taken home almost as soon as he left it. Durin|*tliree or four weeks of this treatment young Dexter ate,, comparatively nothing, and now his teeth cannot be forced apart to get food into his mouth. He does not complain of suffering, and, indeed, speaks very little. His physicians perforce agreed that he is very, near dead, but they differ as to the character of this singular malady—one pronouncing it pure contrariness, and another the effect of working in the bakery. At one time he was deemed insane, and arrangements completed for his sending to Northampton, but his mother strenuously objected, aud the removal was given up. Mrs. Dexter,, who is a Spiritualist, asserts that an evil spirit has obtained possession over him and is starving him to death —Springfield (Mase.) Republican. T : A man in Whitehall, N. Y\, kicked another man, and w-as arrested for so doing. When brought ’ before a Justice of the Peace, he informed His Honor that the man he had kicked Was a lightning-rod man. The Justice at once discharged him, with the remark: “The man who wouldn’t kick a lightning-rod man wherever he finds one is unfit to enjoy the liberties for which Washington fought and Thomas Paine wrote.” That Justice had paid five hundred dollars for lightning rods on his house last spring. To put on a pair of tight boots: Place your boots near by you, and lie down on the floor; hold your feet straight up in the air until the blood runs out of them, and then, with all practical dispatch, pull on the boots. This process diminishes the size and weight of the foot by several ounces, and, if the experiment be properly conducted, it will slip into the boot as quick as a man slides into a gutter on a dark night. ...... Ark for Pressing's Cider Vinegar, and take no other,. Warranted to preserve ricklea. Vineoaii Bitters the Greatest Yet. few doses stir the life-current; slug-' gisliness departs, pain vanishes, and after continued use of the remedy the whole body glows with a new energy arid-a newbeing. Purge the blood and every organ will perform its function perfectly. The stomach will be no longer tortured with Dyspepsia; the lungs will be free from Consumption, the liver active, the heart healthy, the brain clear, the nerves braced, and the mind elastic. Use the “Vinegar Bitters,” and purge your blood. Whether the disease be Fever. Consumption. Dysrpepsia,. Afection of tie. Liver or Kidneys, Dropsy, Catarrh, Rheumatism, Gout, or pains andaeji.es of any kind, attack it in its stronghold, the blood—the fountain of life—and it will soon surrender and abandon the outposts. To do this you must have the “Vinegar Bitters ;” there is no complaint to which the human system is liable, that will not yield to its influence, and there are thousands which no other remedial agent will remove. 4