Joy causes Death

1903

The joy at seeing her husband, who had been absent from home, has been the cause of the death of a young wife named Veyre living at Thonon, on the Lake of Geneva. M. Veyrem, who is in the employment of the Sultan of Morocco as an engineer, recently learned the news of the birth of a son, and hurried home to see his heir.

His wife, who was only twenty years of age and had been married eighteen months, was waiting with her baby at the station as the trained steamed in. The husband ran towards his wife, who, pushing the baby in front, fell into the arms of her husband - dead. The post mortem proved that Mme, Veyre had died from excess of emotion.

Extraordinary Death of a Child

1897

A two-year-old child has just died in the Children's Hospital from a cause which is believed to be absolutely unique. It was the offspring of people living in Queen's Park, Harrow Road, and showed every sign of health until it was six weeks old. Then it began to manifest symptoms of pain and was taken to a doctor who, however, was unable to find any cause for the brain trouble to which the symptoms pointed. Other doctors who were consulted were also puzzled and eventually the child was taken to the Children's Hospital. The physicians, however, were hopelessly baffled, and all they could do was to soothe the child's pain.

After death, an examination revealed a beetle in the region of the brain directly above the cribriform plate, in a cavity which it had made. The medical men are convinced that the insect must have entered the child's nostril (probably while it was asleep) and that is then made its way through one of the small holes which pierce the cibriform plate of the ethnoid bone, whis in a young child is cartlaginous. There must, they think, have been some disease of the bone which enable the insect to pass through . . .

The Story of a Cork Leg

1899

A story at once recalling the famous song about the steam arm and a ghastly tale by Edgar Allan Poe is told of John Stanton, who recently died in New York.

Stanton had lost one of his legs, and in its place he wore an artificial limb, which was placed in the coffin with him. At the wake, while the ceremonies were in full swing, someone shook the coffin, thereby releasing the spring in the limb, and the corpse's leg arose erect in the air.

The drunken mourners were thoroughly frightened and stampeded. Some jumped from the windows.The stairs were blocked by the others in their efforts to flee, many persons being crushed, and it became necessary to summon the police before order could be restored . . .