A Strange Death from Beer-Drinking
A STRANGE death caused by beer-drinking is reported from Canton, Ohio. A telegram received at Cincinnati on March 28 says: "Last night James Little, a strong, healthy young man, died at a boarding-house near the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chicago depot, from the effects of drinking beer. While holding a glass of beer to his lips he was suddenly attacked by a violent fit of gasping for breath, his head hanging down on his breast. The inmates of the room took him outside into the fresh air, but in a few moments he was a corpse. A post-mortem was held, and the coroner reported all the organs in an unimpaired condition. The mode of death was decidedly unusual. The cold beer which he drank partly paralyzed the stomach, and before the beer became of a proper temperature to be absorbed into the system it began to ferment, causing a formation of carbonic acid gas. The gas gradually overpowered the heart, lungs, and brain, and paralyzed the entire nervous system, producing death.—Christian Herald."