Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 November 1874 — A Tanned Tanner. [ARTICLE]

A Tanned Tanner.

The tricks of Signor Carlo Benedetti; i now exhibiting at the Academy of Music I his skill in swallowing swords, canes and razors, may perhaps recall Some curious ' circumstances in the career of Mr. Her- ! man Heimel, an bld resident in this —zy. Heimel was an Alsatian shoemaker, whorcamdover to this country in 1838 or 1839, and settled in New Orleans. He opened a shoe shop on Royal street, which became in time_quite fashionable. In addition to shoemaking Heimel carried on the business of tanning, on a small scale, on what, was then usually styled Maine, but which has now become perverted into Dmn&inc street. There Heiifiel lived comfortably hut humbly for quite a number of years/ doing a little business in the tanning line, such as converting goat and alligator hides into leather. Tannin, the astringent principle used in tanning, and which is made from bark, sumac, etc., is, it is well "known, a healthy and pleasant drink, as invigorating to the blood and system as chalybeate water. It is not over pleasant "to" smell or taste, but one easily conies to like it after the first few glasses. So it was with Heimel. He had a great fondness for this tannin. It was his sole and only drink. Hethoughtit far preferable to his national beer, and declared that it was possessed of every virtue, and that after getting on a spree with tannin one could go to bed perfectly unharmed, sober, and without a headache. However good tannin may be as a strengthenerand invigorator, too much of it, like too much of everything else, proved not healthy. The tannin corroded and burnt Beimel's throat like alcohol. He soon entirely lost the sense of taste. Everything was to him like dry; tastelesschips/He was a man of great, if not voracious. appetite, and yet his dinner proved to him wholly tasteless. He ate until he felt, satisfied and full. It was a mere physical, not gastronomical, work. Notwithstanding this unpleasant consequence of his habit, Heimel persisted in drinking half a dozen glasses of tannin every day. The drink seemed to , strengthen and invigorate his stomach greatly. He could indulge in the most indigestible cabbages, and could defy and smile at all mbdicines. These had no effect upon him, and he would often take a whole box of "“pills at a dose to show the herculean character of his system. He seemed literally made of iron and could, like an ostrich, swallow small stones, nails, pieces of iron, etc , without any apparent injury. These tricks lie frequently performed for the benefit of his puzzled neighbors and children. It occurred to Heimel that this deformity or anomaly of his organization might become profitable if exhibited; that he might appear as a human prodigy. „ This idea was further developed, and Heimel left the shoemaking business for the stage, appearing as the “ Great American Ostrich.” This was in 1861, at the very beginning of the late war. He soon found his way to Europe and appeared in Vienna and many other European cities, where he excited considerable attention and surprise in swallowing nails, swords, etc., although this feat was always regarded as clever legerdemain rather than as a genuine phenomenon. After several years of show life Heiniel returned to this city with quite a comfortable fortune and established himself at his old tannery, directly opposite the Dumaine street station. His exertions, however, had apparently undermined and broken him down. He was a perfect wreck of his former self. Originally he was a robust, hearty German, somewhat inclined to stoutness. Now he was weak, thin, and emaciated. Physiologists tell us that the human system becomes renovated every seven years. Not only do the blood, the flesh and the sinews become new, but the very bones melt away to give place z to fresh ones. It is this constant renovation that we style life. Heimel by his tannic excesses had cut off this nutrition. His body*, his system, was subject to constant wear and tear without drawing sustenance, nutrition, or power to support this wearing away. His organs had become diseased and hardened, or rather converted, into tough, leathery hide. He turned to an unhealthy; yellow color. His skin* became crisp and tough. A pinch would produce not the least effect, and he could even have a pin inserted into his arm without, sufl'ering. Heimel continued to fall away from day to day, until he became at last a perfect skeleton, paralyzed and weak. His very bones seemed to die away, leaving his arms and legs so supple that they could be bent in any direction and in any manner. He was a perfect piece ot tough, sinewy india-rubber. As a boneless man he would have shocked and astonished the world had sufficient vitality been left him to exhibit-. - -; ——->— — —■ ' His ultimate end is certain. Doctors well know that, consumption—not the vulgitr. ordinary consumption of the lungs, but a general falling away—will carry him off. Kept alive the last six months by artificial life by forcing fresh and reinvigorating blood into his veins, he will hardly seextbis year out. When he dies he will leave quite a competency to his many children. These, it is unnecessary to say, are perfectly healthy and, properly "formed. They inherit in no manner the deformity <sf their father, who by his own strange taste has tanned himself into leather and stopped the course of his life-current.—(Means Picayune. The Lynchburg 3’etcs, in a brief account of the giime’ rattlesnakes and other/er® natures to be found in the Virginia mountains, mentions that in this wild and dismal scope, of country there are many wild hogs, which do not hesitate to attack the traveler, and they are without doubt thh most dangerous denizens of the mountains. They are usually found in herds of from five" to twelve, and the sight of a human being is the only signal for attack that they require. The intruder has then nothing left him but to outrun them or climb a tree apd wait for them to leave. In view of the dreadful mortality from vellow fever at the Pensacola Navy Yard, the Nautical Gaxette suggests the closing of that station from Aug. I’to Nor. 15.