Democratic Messenger

Swallowing Whisky Against Time.

In Ireland, a short time ago, a man backed himself with a five-pound note to drink six glasses of whisky within 60 seconds. He lost his wager - and his life. This person was a pork butcher named Fennessy, residing in Limerick City, who, it appears, had frequently demonstrated his peculiar capacity for swallowing whisky against time. His last exhibition in this line was witnessed by a numerous company, and it is understood that a good deal of money changed hands over the event. Fennessy's backers, who were numerous, laid heavily on their man, who, they felt confident from his previous feats in swallowing a large quantity of strong liquor in a small space of time, would, as one of them expressed it, "get outside of six glasses of whisky quicker than a cat could sneeze." The champion fire-water swallower stripped to his work: it was his custom to drink in his shirt and trousers only; like most remarkable men, he had some peculiarity: the connection between the wearing of stockings and the swilling of half a dozen glasses of whisky in a minute is not quite obvious, but Fennessy removed his stockings before attacking the six glasses filled with home manufactured stuff, which were drawn up in a row before him on a table. A time-keeper with a watch having given the signal to begin by dropping a handkerchief on the floor, five of the glasses were swiftly emptied into the champion's stomach, and he was in the act of flinging the sixth after the others when he suddenly collapsed and rolled over heavily on the ground. When "time" was called he was found to be insensible, whereat there was some unparliamentary language used by his backers, who felt that they were the victims of misplaced confidence. A surgeon with a stomach-pump arrived, but although a good deal of liquid was lifted out of the champion, he never recovered consciousness, and he died in a short time. The surgeon who made the post-mortem examination said the late lamented champion was so thoroughly saturated with whisky that if his body were subjected to the operation of a hydraulic press he was confident the yield would be a very large quantity of alcohol. The relatives of the champion, however, declined to allow this interesting experiment to be made in the interest of science; the Coroner's jury took the word of the surgeon for it that fluids in the champion's system were almost wholly composed of whisky, and they found that he died of alcoholic poisoning.