Preface: Still trying to understand all the new features that are part of the new Blogger website. Today I have changed the type size from "Normal" to "Medium." I find it easier to read, thus it probably will be easier for you to read also. I may make more changes in the next few weeks to help in reading my stories.
It was an ordinary day. Searching Lancaster Newspapers archives when I came across an 1839 Intelligencer Journal Christmas Eve report about what was called "Lancaster's Frankenstein." It had to do with a man named Kobler Musselman, who had been sentenced to be hung in the local prison yard for the brutal murder of Lazarus Zellerbach. Just before the hanging, Mr. Musselman sold his body to a local physician, Dr. George B. Kerfoot, for $5.00. He was hoping that the good doctor could bring him back to life, after being hung, through the use of a galvanic battery which was one of the earliest and simplest types of batteries that consisted of a copper and zinc electrode immersed in a solution of dilute sulfuric acid and connected by an external conductor. I read the account of the hanging and also what happened after Mr. Musselman died and was treated by shocking his body with the galvanic battery to be brought back to life. One of the attending physicians at the hanging, Dr. Neff, gave the following description of the effect produced by the Galvanic Battery on the body.
"When the platform fell, Kobler swung both feet backwards and forwards, slowly and regularly, for precisely one minute, and then appeared to be dead; but at the end of three minutes there was a convulsive shudder over the whole body, and this was the last effort in the monies of death. At the end of about thirty-five minutes, the body was taken down and conveyed to a room, where the physicians of Lancaster, and a few from Philadelphia, made experiments upon it with the Galvanic Battery, Electrical machines, etc. The wind pipe was cut open, and a tube was inserted, to which was attached a bellows, and with this apparatus artificial breathing was established; when the Galvanic Battery was applied, Kobler moved his arms and legs, his left hand was raised from the box upon which he lay to his breast, and his fingers were opened and shut, as if to catch something. His features expressed every passion, his eyes were opened and closed rapidly, his jaw moved as if eating, and he breathed with sufficient power to blow out a candle five times in rapid succession. This was a kind of artificial life, which of course was only temporary. When a dead man opens his eyes and looks about, moves his limbs, throws his arm upon his breast, grinds his teeth and tries to catch you, it requires strong nerves to witness the spectacle. If any of those present ran out of the room after seeing him open his eyes, etc., and reported to the people that Kobler was brought to life again, we would tell them they have nothing more to fear of the man whose whole life, if known, would probably unfold a "tale of horror, whose lightest words would harrow up your souls; and that the reason the physicians could not restore a permanent instead of a temporary life, was that he was too dead when brought in. He was very dead!"
Pretty spooky! And, to happen on Christmas Eve...why not wait a few days longer before they hung him. The birth of the Christ child is much more interesting than the death of a murderer. Perhaps more people would have shown an interest in trying to bring Mr. Musselman back from the dead had it been done after the start of the New Year. Might have been a more interesting read in the newspaper, also. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - Sorry, but I could find no photographs to share with you, thank goodness!
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