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yelled from the window. "A miracle! Our friend has been brought
back to us; send for a cab. " And then sotto voce, "For goodness' sake,
Jack, behave like a Christian and crawl into bed again. Remember the
landlady is in the room and don't go prancing about in your shirt. "
"Hang the landlady, " said I, "I feel like a lightning conductor
— you've ruined me! "
"Poor fellow, " cried Tom, once more addressing the crowd,
"he is alive, but his intellect is irretrievably affected. He thinks he is a
lightning conductor. Make way for the cab. That's right! Now help me
to lead him in. He is out of all danger now. He can dress at his hotel.
If any of you have any information to give which may throw light
upon this case my address is 81 George Street. Remember, Doctor
Crabbe, 81 George Street. Good day, kind friends, good-bye! " And
with that he bundled me into the cab to prevent my making any
further disclosures, and drove off amid the enthusiastic cheers of the
admiring crowd.
I could not stay in Brisport long enough to see the effects of my
coup d'etat. Tom gave us a champagne supper that night, and the fun
was fast and furious, but in the midst of it a telegram from my
principal was handed in ordering me to return to Manchester by the
next train. I waited long enough to get an early copy of the Brisport
Chronicle and beguiled the tedious journey by perusing the glowing
account of my mishap. A column and a half was devoted to Dr
Crabbe and the extraordinary effects of electricity upon a drowned
man. It ultimately got into some of the London papers, and was
gravely commented upon in the Lancet.
As to the pecuniary success of our little experiment I can only
judge from the following letter from Tom Crabbe, which I transcribe
exactly as I received it:

WHAT HO! MY RESUSCITATED CORPSE

"You want to know how all goes in Brisport, I suppose. Well,
I'll tell you. I'm cutting Markham and Davidson out completely, my
boy. The day after our little joke I got a bruised leg (that baby), a cut
head (the woman the baby fell upon), an erysipelas, and a bronchitis.
Next day a fine rich cancer of Markham's threw him up and came
over to me. Also a pneumonia and a man who swallowed a sixpence.
I've never had a day since without half a dozen new names on the list,