A True Story.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 375, 16 July 1903, Page 5

A True Story.

England is a long way off and fifty-three years is rather far in the past ; stil! there are a few people among us able to recall what the old country w»i like in 1850, the year of the incident to be related. At that tittle there lived in a detached cottage near an English Cathedral city a very eccentric bachelor. He had f 'rmer'y been wealthy; but having dissipated the greater part of his fortune, he went to the other extreme, and not only became a teetotaller but almost denied himself the necessarries of life, For years he kept himself a prisoner in his cottage, his only companions being two ferocious bull dogs named Beer and Whiskey. Two tramps, who chanced to hear that this singular recluse was very well off, and that he was never without beer and whiskey, resolved to rob him. Accordingly they one night broke into the lonely man's cottage, and immediately discovered that the Beer and Whiskey therein were of quite different brands than they expected to find. Qne of the tramps feeling in mad terror from the dogs, fell into a mill stream and was drowned. His companion, badly bitten, jast managed to c'imb a tall fence; but fell over it and fractured his skull, so that he died the next day.

The incident caused much excitement at the time, and it had scarcely subsided when the local shopkeeper reported that the only answer he could obtain to his knocking was the growls of Beer and Whiskey ; whereupon tbe police broke .into the cottage and discovered the old man—dead. The in (nest was remarkable for a dispute which it occasioned between two doctors. One maintained that death was the result of fright at the recent attempted robbery ; the the other, that deceased died from ohronip indigestion brought about by improper diet and want of exercise, he not having been outside his'cottage for eighteen years. The discussion was tiken up by the giants of mpdical profession, and ably debated, the conc'usio" r'«- che l »w% that indigestion is a .disease arwii'v? f-' • infinite'v numerous causes, and itself v< .H'afc'vo; of t-f; anplain's hardly less numerous. But .r, was pot rh?.. known (as it has now fov 35 years) thai indigestion has one sure cure, viz., "eigel's Syrup. Mr H C Blackie, of Post Office Chambers, Auckland, N;Z., has not kept within his house for eighteen years. On the contrary, he is a traveller, and knows the world wel'. Writing on the 16th. March, 1903. Mr Blackie ob?erves: " For years I was a martyr to indigestion and flituence. Wind used to press on the valve ef my heart to such an alarming degree that on two occasions I fain'ed on the platform when pnbliciy speaking. Dietary and medicinal treatment failed utterly until, on tbe recommendation of a Professor at the Working Men's College, Melbourne, T tried Mother .Seigel's c yup. By taking it gradually after each meal I very soon found relief and have ever since been able to enjoy »\' foods with inconvenience. My cure was effected about four years neo, when I had consumed fmm six to eis;ht bottles ; but one bottle was sufficient to afford me relief. T have never ceased to praise the virtues of Seigel's Syrup in the Colonies I visit a« a commercial traveller, merely in gratitude for the great benefit derived from it—for I have no business connection whatever with its proprietors. What I now say is quite unsolicited.; Certainly there is no othc such potent and easy remedy for all forms of indigestion." Such is the testimony »f an intelligent and experienced man. Of indigestion it mav be said, as it «as said of fame, some inherit, it, some chieve it a d some have it thrust upon them (as in th< esse of persons compelled to lead a sedentary life); but all my eradicate it by following the example of Mr B'ac'ie.