a vat were found the legs and thighs, partly fresh, partly stewed or roasted. In a chest were the heart, liver, and entrails, all prepared and cleaned, as neatly as though done by a skilful butcher; and, finally, under the oven was a bowl full of fresh blood. On his way to the magistrate of the district, the wretched man flung himself repeatedly on the ground, struggled with his guards, and endeavoured to suffocate himself by gulping down clods of earth and stones, but was prevented by his conductors.
When taken before the Protokoll at Dabkow, he stated that he had already killed and—assisted by his family—eaten six persons: his children, however, asserted most positively that the number was much greater than he had represented, and their testimony is borne out by the fact, that the remains of fourteen different caps and suits of clothes, male as well as female, were found in his house.
The origin of this horrible and depraved taste was as follows, according to Swiatek’s own confession:
In 1846, three years previous, a Jewish tavern in the neighbourhood had been burned down, and the host had himself perished in the flames. Swiatek, whilst examining the ruins, had found the half-roasted corpse of the publican among the charred rafters of the house. At that time the old man was craving with hunger, having been destitute of food for some time. The scent and the sight of the roasted flesh inspired him with an uncontrollable desire to taste of it. He tore off a portion of the carcass and satiated his hunger upon it, and at the same time he conceived such a liking for it, that he could feel no rest till he had tasted again. His second victim was the orphan above alluded to; since then—that is during the period of no less than three years—he had frequently subsisted in the same manner, and had actually grown sleek and fat upon his frightful meals.
The excitement roused by the discovery of these atrocities was intense; several poor mothers who had bewailed the loss of their little ones, felt their wounds reopened agonisingly. Popular indignation rose to the highest pitch; there was some fear lest the criminal should be torn in pieces himself by the enraged people, as soon as he was brought to trial: but he saved the necessity of precautions being taken to ensure his safety, for, on the first night of his confinement, he hanged himself from the bars of his prison-window.
We gladly leave the matter here, thinking that perhaps it would have been hardly judicious to recall such an act of outrageous wickedness, were it not for the attention which has of late been directed to morbid diseases of the brain and senses. Such a case as that above recorded is by no means without a parallel: we could adduce some surpassing it in horror, but we discreetly refrain.Sir James Bland Burgess married two rich wives in succession, and left the law, adding that it was money made the mare to go. “Yes,” replied a friend, “and the Burgesses, too.”
QUACKERY IN 1551.
The quack medicines which have brought large fortunes to the lucky inventors in our own day are often exposed and denounced; but there is little doubt that, even in empiricism, we have improved greatly since the days when the intestines of animals and a few herbs were considered to form a sovereign balm for every disorder. Most of the great electuaries now advertised are said to possess the negative virtue of doing no harm; the pills may be taken, and the other preparations freely used, without further mischief than may be caused to the patient by the absence of proper medical treatment. Our ill-fated ancestors were not always so well off when they resigned themselves to the care of quack doctors. The remedies prescribed for them were often cruel, and nearly always disagreeable. In a certain “Pore Man’s Tresure,” published in London, in the year 1551, many extraordinary specifics are given, some of which must have been more painful in their effects than the disorders they were designed to remove. Even after the lapse of more than 300 years one must pity the poor man who put his trust in this black-letter guide-book to health.
Suppose, for instance, that he had the misfortune to receive a severe wound, whereby much loss of blood ensued, this would be the course for him to pursue in order to check the hemorrhage: “Take salte befe, ye fat and the lene togyther, as ye thinkest will go in the wound, and lay it on the hot coles, and let it rost there tyll it be thorowe hote, and all hote put it in the wonde and binde faste, and it shall staunch anone.” This approaches in barbarity the old plan of thrusting the stumps of amputated limbs in hot pitch in order to stop the blood. The heat would have the desired effect, and even in the present day lint “scorching hot” is sometimes applied to the wound; but conceive the agony that must have been caused by the exploded system.
Should the “poor man” survive this process he would probably be troubled at some period of his existence with pains in the head—happy man indeed, thrice happy, if he escaped them altogether. If the pains were grievous, it would only be necessary for him to take “the gall of a hare and temper it with honey evenly,” and anoint therewith his temples. If this did not suffice, he was to use the sap of an ash and rhubarb, mixed with wine and “grece of a freshe ele.” Or he might take grease of the hart blended with barley-meal, for “thys bathe bene proved a ryght good medecyne.” If his pains were neuralgic, it is not unlikely that he would be afflicted with ear-ache also. A reference to his “Tresure” would afford him the means of casting out this fiend. He would find it requisite to take a few herbs, and the grease of an eel as before-the last having, no doubt, a potent influence. And if, following up these complaints, his old wound should reopen and bleed, there are several effectual modes of stopping the effusion. He may “take burnt worms and powder them,” and drop the powder in the wound, or use “salt” in the same way, or “scrapings of a brass pot”! The last remedy might, at least, produce gangrene, even if the two