The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, July 17, 1898, Page 19

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, JULY 17, 1898. LIKE A SLEEPING BEAUTY SHE LIES DAY AFTER DAY, MONTH AFTER MONTH, GIVING NO SIGNS OF AWAKENING. The strongest shock of electricity has apparently no moreeffect upon her than the gentle touch of a kindly hand. Part of the time her eyes stare into vacancy, Only during a short interval in the night does this persistent staring at nothing, into nothing, cease; the eyelashes then rest on the cheeks, until suddenly, without any nary signs of awakening, they rise again and the eyes once more stare into nothing. “Her limbs remain in any position in which they are placed; once she moved just a little and once she opened and shut her mouth. Her friends regarded this as hopeful, but the favorable signs did not cantinue. She is as incapable of motion as she is of action. When liquids her mouth she swallows them. Doctors and scientists have exhausted every remedy and plan to awaken her from this strange sleep. A professional nurse watches beside for some sign of consciousness. nowing. are placed i her waiti n nearly five months ily papers e of 1dly mon- f our unt m “‘tk AC young girl had been essed on the lounge h calmly sleeping. open a ple of the transom over had apparently for top was half though the ht had hand wa. J ol couple it had Her po- ained, and fact that her ecupied and that the with the ave been r as if permeated m would 1 have been left to per sleep that Maybe it would ) that dee s awakening. unlike oth sufferers from gas Wilbur, the victim five months ago, has i For five months absolutely uncon- eautiful, breathing, inani- thinking, unknowing image in ere oblivion—sans everything.” The hell and the mechanical that perform their func- ily, causing her to di- hment fed her through 16 “m a tube, testify alone to the part of her that is al lock on the morning she was cor us her mother hurried answer to repeated ind that her daughter's 'l'.m;‘h,\, had rung up , but as the young man aking with Elida her ited to tell her, provided the same time re- e had seen her the insisted u mother ¢ Fig. 3—THE ARCH. more common on the index finger than on the others. It is a ridge pattern Logan protested at | ould not arouse her | phy hurried to the house, a doctor was sent for and everybody who learned of ster to this young girl waited sly to hear of her r . e doctor, a well-know without the slig a consultat rem v known to have lar s was tried, but n the days that followed other prominent doctors examined this unusual case and gave their be: ef- But there not ovement. Bli electricity, white heat, ice bandages on e, everything known to science d in turn, and still the patient 3 one of the’ seven sleepers of Ephesus, oblivious and inert. The strongest shock of electricity had no more effect than the gentl of her lover's nd. Her ey ared into E unseeing, unknowing. It would have been impossible to deter- mine when she slept but for the fact that her eyes remained wide open dur- ing the day and -far into the night. If the lids were forced down they in- stantly flew open upon removal of pres- Fig. 4—THE LOOP. It is the most common of all finger ridge patterns. sure. Only during a short interval in the night did this persistent staring at nothing, into nothing, cease; the eye- lashes then rested on the cheeks until suddenly, without movement, yawn, or any of the customary signs of awakening they were raised once again and the eyes resumed their ab- sent, unthinking gaze. Her legs and arms remained in any position in which they were placed; once or twice she moved her legs just a little, and once she opened and shut her mouth, as though thirsty, and they | gave her water. All this was considered hopeful, but these favorable signs did not continue. 3 She was incapcble of motion as she was of all action, even the mechanical performance of chewing and swallow- ing foed; yet when a spoonful of ice cream was put in her mouth she swal- lowed it as though the cold was grate- ful. A professional nurse watched her by day and another waited anxlously for favorable sign or symptom by night. But still the patient lay supine and as time passed the question as to what force or power was to awaken this sleeping beauty of stern fact to the happy awakening of that sleeping beauty of fairy fiction became more t touch | sigh, | Almost as suddenly maiden known to had dropped {and more serious. as that other lov us all from ch ildhood she into slumber. out this was a slumber from which the prince gould not arouse i although many tffmes a day he came to strive in every way for her re- lease. Hypnotism produced no 3 could not make her sleep any the deeper; it could not induce the tirele: lids to droop; it could not awaken; was powerless. ‘Ch: all the force of its intangible aid, but it could not work upon this trance-like stupor. Medical knowledge availed not; the doctors could diagnose the case, but they could not cure They frank- ly admitted that they were puzzled. No similar circumstance had ever ap- peared in medical journals. In the most desperate cases of poison- ing the active effect of the poison wears off if the ient lives; then why did she not eld to treatment? Whyv. witn the original cause of the trouble gone, did she not improve? Why, if there was no poison in her veins to deprive | her of life, or action, or consciousness, did she not return to the body she had left? Why, at least, did not the con- | ditions change? | But day followed day, the Wweeks | slipped by, Elida Wilbur's sad plight | had ceased to be a nine days’ wonder, | and still this sleeping beauty slept on. She grew a little thinner, they cut off | all her pretty hair, but otherwise she | was the same. | And the doctors declared that she was now suffering from that most baf- fling of all diseases—hysteria. An agreement as to the cause did not mean a remedy in effect, however, and the sleeping beauty softly slumbered her life away and could not be made happy | by the constant visits of her lover, nor | sorrowful at the distress centered about her. And at last it was determined to try the new cure that has come to San | Francisco; the cure of osteopathy, which claims to renew the communica- tion between the nerve centers and dis- | eased part by forcing the blood through | the arteries and veins to the parts that eff it it | sure or obstruction damming up the nerve force. This cure is one of manip- ulation, similar to a scientific massage, and the use of drugs is dispensed with entirely. But osteopathy failed to work When a schoo! girl Elida Wilbur was are starving, and removing any pres- | any change in the sleeper’s symptoms. | stian Science gave | considered one of the among all her companfons; later when she made her debut she recelved much attention photograph appeared in Vogu 3 of fair women of America, and her beauty was that of regular fi s as well as exquisite ur coloring her San Francisco friends and admirers took much pride in this port- rait of. California’s daughter. Some four years ago her engagement was announced to Mr. James Dunphy, | a wealthy young fellow, about whom hovered an atmosphere of mystery and pathos, calculated to inspire interest in many a girlish heart. Mr. Dunphy Figi 5—THE SPIRAL WHORL. It is more common than the arch, but less so than the loop. was divorced and there were rumors of an unhappy experience which added an element of interest to his good looks, and often proved an incentive to make him forget the sorrows of his life. Congratulations were showered upon the young couple and many a remark was heard regarding their adaptability when they were seen together, for they were a handsome pair. Miss Wilbur's blonde hair, blue eyes and fair skin were a decided contrast to her dark filance, and as the young man was rich besides, and both were blessed with youth and health, the prospective un- handsomest | ion was smiled upon and considered a unseeing, teh. good n er a few months the wedding day was decided upon and the invitations were Issued. The prospective bride was | popular and well known; she had been | a pupil at a fashionable private school —for it was not until lately that re-| verses of fortune had overtaken her mother—and she had many friends among the society girls. The groem so widely known and much in- st was felt in the welfare of the | young couple. | But shortly before the wedding day arrived notices of postponement were sent to the invited guests and the cause of the delay was soon made known to all. Mr. Dunphy was a Catholic, and being a divorced man, he could not| marry witha a dispensation from the Pope, particularly as his former wife | had been of the same faith. The expected papal exemption, it was | stated, had failed to come. This re-| port was widely circulated and much sympathy was expressed for this case | of true love that was carrying out the old adage. Then there were rumors of disinheritance for the groom in case | of his marriage, because of parental religious scruples alone, and the wed- ding was again postponed; and still again. And the years passed. And then, one morning, it was too late for the Pope's dispensation, too late to snap one’s fingers at parental seruples, too late to weigh love against calculation, with Prudence to hold the scales: Of all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these: It might have been. —_——eo—————— CUBAN MEMENTOES. KEY WEST, Fla, July 2 18%8.— Major Lauriano Prado, just back from an_adventurous trip in Cuba, was| showing his silver-handled machete ml a reporter in a Cuban shop in this city the other day. The reporter asked him if it had ever killed anybody, and he answered: “No.” Thereupon the pro- prietor of the shop said: “I'll show you a machete that has killed a man.” He went into a rear room and reappeared directly with a machete evidently made at the same factory as Prado’s. He held the blade up to the light. There was a dark stain on the steel for some | twelve inches about the middle of the | Qugur/~ G, 1582 : | THE STUDY 0)% /' » g uq,{( INEXPENSIVE | [e} , Z é.. FINGER PRINTS ; 4 MOST WY Is S0 \Q‘. - SURPRISING 1 N L4 | FASCINATING s W IT IS A \ A NOT MORE PASTIME _ ML EXTENSIVELY 6ND SO prGURE 2.—FINGER PRINT USED AS A SEAL ON AN ORDER on CARRIEDON. A CAMP SUTLER BY THE OFFICER OF A SURVEYING PARTY IN NEW MEXICe. Photo by Johnson, 31 Third Street. CANNOT AWAKEN HER | STRANGE CASE OF A YOUNG SAN FRANCISCO BELLE WHO HAS BEEN UNCON- \ & 5»\ A\ \ \x\\\\\N ), machete. “That is the blood of a Span- ish captain,” the proprietor said, proudly. Cuban war relics are in great demand just now, and if the Cubans were less | conscientious they could do a big busi- | ness in selling machetes used by Maceo, buttons from the uniforms of Gomez, spurs worn by Garcia, and so on. The | Cubans have been shown the way how | by the sale of bogus Maine relics. The | amount of verdigris-covered cartridges sold as ammunition recovered from the | | wreck of the Maine would fill the mag- azines of several warships. The fraud became so open down here that Maine l.relics now find. no sale at.all, . The war relic hunters importune the Cubans fo machetes, “some that have a history.” The machetes used by the insurgents are made in Connecticut, and anyone can buy them in New York. If the relic hunter insists on having a “his- toric” machete the Cuban will get one for him to satisfy him, but he does not encourage the fraud. HERE 15 THE WAY TO READ YOUR ID you ever examine the palm | of your hand or the bulbs of your fingers through a magnify- ing glass? If so, you must have been impressed by the rough- ness of the skin caused by the great number of little ridges running from side to side of the fingers and curving here and there so as to cover the entire surface. These small ridges | cover the entire surface of the palm and run transversely across the palm- ar surface of the fingers, except on the | bulb of the finger. Here the ridges arch over the finger tip, leaving a space which is filled by other ridges, occurring in patterns of such complex- ity that, as Mark Twain makes Pud- d’'nhead say, there are no two in the world alike. It is commonly believed that the Chi- | nese made use of this individuality of Fig. 6—THE CIRCULAR WHORL. This pat- tern is very common, these patterns some 2000 years ago as a means of establishing personal identity, but there is no evidence to support thisz tradition. The earliest known “finger prints” are marks of finger nails on Assyrian pottery. In the British Museum is an Assyrian brick bearing the inscription, “Nail | mark of Habu-sum-usur, the seller of the field (used), like his seal.” Finger prints were employed in an- other and ingenious way by an officer of the United States Geological Sur- vey in 1882. The men were paid by | orders on the ‘camp sutler, and to| guard against forgery the officer | wrote the amount of the order across a print made by his own finger, the print In this case serving much the | same purpose as the line work so of- ! ten seen on bank checks and drafts on which the figures representing the | amount of the draft are written. The first extensive study of the pat- terns formed by the ridgeés on the bulbs of the fingers appears to have been made in 1823 by De Purkinje at | another, the color of hair, eyes the University of Breslau, and in 1868 | FINGER PRINTS they were first used extensively as a means of identification by Sir W. Her- schel, who was at that time “collector” in the Hooghly district of India. Sir Willlam experienced great difficulty in distinguishing one brown skinned from and complexion being very uniform in this race, and he found them to be most ac- complished liars. Much of the litiga- tion brought before him involved the title to land, and the litigants, being unable to write, personal identification was important. He adopted the plan of having the finger prints of the con- tracting parties impressed on all deeds, conveyances, etc. This was done at first merely to impress the minds of the parties with the solemnity of the proceeding, but it was noticefi that no two of the prints were alike, and this individuality proved a reliable and cer- tain means of identification. _These minute ridges owe their chief significance to the persistent individu- ality of the patterns which they form. Observation has demonstrated that, though these ridges make their appear- ance some time before birth, and per- sist long after the death of the individ- uals, their numbers and relative posi- tion remain unchanged. Of course, the general outline of the pattern they form is altered by the growth of the finger, but no new ridges are formed, and none are destroyed, except by acci- dental injuries, and in these cases scars are left to tell the story. The evidence of the unchangeability of the pattern of the finger prints has been collected by Sir Francis Galton. In 1892 he reported comparisons of fif- teen persons, taken at intervals as great as thirty years—and from these cases he was led to conclude that the pattern never varied on the same fin- ger. Since then Sir W. Herschel had eight of the Hindoos, whose prints he had taken in 1878, looked up, and the prints from the same fingers again taken. There was found to be an ex- act correspondence in every instance of prints taken from the same finger. When it is remembered that these prints were made on cheap native pa- per, by native officials, and with an ink not entirely suited for the purpose, and that the identity of the prints was easily established, it is readily seen Continued on Page Twenty-nine. Fig. 7—THE DOUBLE LOOP. This is 'one of the many examples of complex pat- terns.