Rensselaer Union, Volume 10, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 January 1878 — Death in a Barber’s Chair. [ARTICLE]

Death in a Barber’s Chair.

At 8:45 yesterday morning a man, about fifty years of age, of medium size, wearing a faded suit of black, entered Joseph Amberg’s barber-shop, 121 Orchard street, and sat down near the door. His face was pale, and as he sat awaiting his turn to be shaved, his fingers and lips twitched nervously, as though he was in pain. “ Your turn next,” the barber said, pointing to the center chair, behind which stood, with his towel in hand, John Lehning, one of the barber’s journeymen. The man arose, and hanging his hat on the rack near the window, sat down in the middle chair. “ Hurry up, for I feel sick,” the man said, as the journeyman pinned the cloth around his neck. The barber quickly lathered the man’s face and drew his razor down its right side. As the razor reached his chin the man’s pale face became whiter and his hand twitched more nervously. “ Give me water, for I am very sick,” he said. The frightened barber put down his razor and put a glass of water to the sufferer’s lips. The man sat upright and drank a little. Then, nervously pushing his fingers through his thin, red hair, he drew a long breath and sank back in the chair, his head falling on the head support. The barber drew r his head toward him and placed the edge of the razor on tne left side of his face. He did no more. With a quick, strong movement the man straightened out his legs and tightly grasped the arms of the chair. Then, throwing his head back, he gasped feebly and died The Coroner’s jury said that the man was Thomas Kelley, and that he died of rheumatism of the heart. — N. Y. Sun. When a mother goes on a whaling expedition she rarely fails to get all the blubber she wants.