EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF HUMAM CREDULITY.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3670, 19 April 1883, Page 4

EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF HUMAM CREDULITY.

The New York Times has the following despatch from Toronto (Canada): — Joseph Hiseoek, a young man of thirty years, died in this city on Sunday, January "Jo, and his body, -wrapped in quilts, -was at once propped up in a chair before a hot stove and kept there until a late hour on the Tuesday following , . Just before his death, Hiscock, who suffered much pain, whispered that he was " going into a trance " and would remain in that condition for three days. His wife and friends implicitly believed this statement, and, therefore, the body was treated in the manner described. The family appear to have been the victims of an "herb doctor" named Victor Hall. A neighbor of the Hiseocks says that Hall was their family physician. According to this person " Mr Hiseoek was a nienihcrof a society of brethren who believe in the doctor's teachings. Last summer he was taken sick and Hall prescribed for him. He made him eat .something made of Graham flour, and after a while the Graham cakes had raisins added to them. It cost the family GOc a day during part of the time tor fruit, on which they seemed to live almost entirely. Then after a while this was varied by a dish made from pcasmeal and other stuffs. Whether it was the diet or not I can't say, but the man seemed to improve, and I believe if Mrs Hiscock were sick to-morrow she would prefer Hall to any other doctor.' . The neighbors state that during Hiscock's illness "Dr" Hall dosed him with oranges, nuts, and figs. Bottles and jars filled with hot water were placed in bed with him at night and a profuse perspiration induced. In the morning theso were removed and the 2>atieut sponged with cold water, as the "Doctor" explained, to close the pores and prevent his catching cold. His screams on Saturday, the day before he died, could be heard far beyond the house. After the death, when the disposition of the body became known to the neighbors, a lady whose daughter died some weeks :igo called on Mrs Hiscock. Some objection was offered, but she made her way to the room, and there found the dead man sitting up in a chair and the ''Doctor" kneeling beside him. " "What are you doing with that dead nian'r" asked the lady. "You had better put him down, I think, and leave liim alone. 1 know what my daughter looked like when she was dead, and that man is like her." " Perl nips your daughter was buried alive," was the reply. This was enough, and the lady beat a retreat. Another who called ventured to remark that the man was dead. " He's only in a trance," said the "Doctor" "' and you look as though you could lie put into one very easily." The lady did not wait to see whether she could or not. but left, as sliu said, "' with her heart, in ]ht throat." Drs. MeCoimell and I'oweil, tw< >physician* of good local repute, were allowed to visit the house, and they pronounced the man dead, but the family's faith in "Dr". Hill \yas unmoved. A reporter who went to Hiscock's house thus describes what he saw there: The .scene on entering the room was well calculated to strike awe into the bosoms of the ignorant or superstitious. A solitary tallow candle made the darkness visible, while leaning with one ana on the bureau was the "Doctor," evidently absorbed in a paper 911 wliich he was dotting down some memoranda. His appearance was as peculiar as his surroundings. A low-sized, slightlybuilt figure, with hair like a woman's hanging down over his shoulder, and a piercing black eye, ho was, to say the least, not prepossessing in appearance. The dead man was sitting bolt upright in a rocking-eh ail - , his feet encased in slippers, and his body wrapped in blankets and quilts. His glassy fyes were staring into vacancy, and lying o;i his breast was a common spirit thermometer, which stood at GOdeg. A stove stood within Ihroo or four feet of the chair. "Dr" Hall whispered to the reporter to make no noiso. Speaking <>f himself, the "Doctor" said he was a descendant in the third yeucrutiou of herbalists, and for

twenty-three years had been " detailing a discovery" that he called " Vita Therapeutics." The " Doctor " said he believed in trances, and could put himself in one at i>ny time. Placing his hand on the forehead and lips of the dead man, which were as cold as ice, Hall said: "Mr Hiscock, here is a gentleman has called to see you," and then calling the reporter by name he introduced him in the usual manner. He then invited the reporter to try if he could discover any appearance of dissolution having set in, and on being told that he thought he did, smiled incredulously. On a lounge in the kitchen sat the widow, nursing one of her four small children, and asking every few minufes if "there had been any signs yet." JTit mother and several other women wen; there also, together with a relative who had been telegraphed for from the country. The presence of the latter was explained by one of the others, who said the '"Doctor" considered it necessary, as his patient wanted to sec her. All along tlio ;i Doctnr"' had been eating oransres and other fruit, saying it was to nourish the patient, "who was unable to do so for himself. "Do you really think he will recover r" asked the reporter. '" That I can't say," was the reply. "He may be frightened to death before the state of coma passes away. This afternoon a chair upset down here, and when I went up he was quite cold, but since then he has got warm again." The following arc extracts from "Dr" Hall's notes : " 3.30 a.m.—Monday.—-The boards of the sidewalk creaked with the frost, and made his heart beat preccptibly with fright. Two persons in the room who will substantiate the fact. Had been cold throughout from head to foot."

" 3.43 a.m.—Arms warm: no pulse or heart, but a slight twitching there."

On the Tuesday the body began to be discolored and to emit a very decided smell. Then the herb doctor came to the conclusion that his patient had died of fright during the trance.