A TOUGH YARN.

Thames Star, Volume VI, Issue 1859, 17 December 1874, Page 2

A TOUGH YARN.

One of the most painful incidents of modern days occurred last, month; in Philips County,'' United States. An amiable and gifted lady, Miss .Boomershine, died under peculiarly distressing circumstances. It seems from the account given of the affair by the Troy Chief, that about a year ago a family from Georgia, of German descent, named Boomershine, sejflejd^neaj* the|western lineibf Philips County. Miss Boomershine had an awkward habit of eating clay, which she usually obtained from the roadside. Unfortunately, early this summer the grasshoppers swarmed in the district where the Boomershines lived, and soon began depo- < siting their eggs in the gardens, fields, and roadside. It'was hot long before Miss Boomer?hine began to complain of internal pains and exhibited-other iSymptpns of a nature so alarming as to cause serious anxiety to her friends, Her fancy for eating clay subsided, but she was constantly nibbling blades of corn, leaves of trees, dog lejunel, and other weeds, and frequently said she felt as if she " could take wings and fly away." At last her family called in Dr. Le Due, of Philipsburg, who said :he had never before seen or read* of such a case, and that in his opinion Miss Boomershine must be labouring under a mental hallucination. Her desire to "fly" continued unabated until the other day, wjxen the grasshoppers commenced rising and taking their flight. Miss Boomershin* appeared very restless that morning—standing at the window and watching the; grasshoppers, whib her frit nda were as anxiously watching herself. Suddenly, as though, unable to control iierself,'she rushed out of the house, flapped her arms as though they were wings, rose about ten feet in the air, and fell to the ground dead. A post-mortem examination by Dr. Le Due revealed the fact that, within, " she was literally swarming with grasshoppers." The instincts of these insects prompted them to migrate with other grasshoppers, and hence the eccentric conduct and death of this unhappy girl.