ent. She was
apparently a victim of this strange and heretical therapeutical
faith. Kensington is buzzing with gossip concerning the
deplorable death of the unfortunate woman. C. F. Meyer, the
husband of the victim, accepts the death of his wife as due to
heart-failure, and apparently is not disposed to complain.

"Mr. Meyer talked freely with a _Press_ reporter yesterday
concerning the sickness and death of his wife. He said that Mrs.
Meyer had been ill for about a year, her malady having been
diagnosed as chronic rheumatism. She had been treated by the
family physician for this disease, but without relief. In
despair she turned to the fasting treatment.

"From time to time she had read of the remarkable cures claimed
to have been effected by complete abstention from food. Through
a friend she met and talked with the family of Leonard Thress,
of 2618 Frankford Avenue, whose case is proclaimed as one of the
most remarkable that had been successfully treated by the
fasting system. Thress was widely advertised as a victim of
dropsy, who, after a complete fast of more than a month, was
restored to sound health.

"Mrs. Meyer believed, and sent for Henry Ritter, the chief
advocate and adviser of the fasting cult in Philadelphia. His
belief in the weird treatment of disease he has adopted is
seemingly unshakable.

"Ritter has superintended many cases of starvation treatment,
wherein, according to his own statements, the patients have
totally abstained from actual food for periods of from four to
six weeks. He claims that in every case the afflicted person has
completely recovered health--with the single exception of Mrs.
Meyer.

"In response to her request, Ritter called upon Mrs. Meyer. She
at once began her fast. Nothing was allowed to pass her lips but
a small quantity of tonicum and some physiological salts,
dissolved in water. Of each of these she was permitted to take
sparingly every day. It is claimed by Ritter, a fact well-known
to physiologists, that there is no actual food in either of
these thin condiments. They are simply stimulants. These
liquids, according to Ritter, are the only things given to any
of the patients whose cases he has supervised.

"For twenty-five days, so says Mr. Meyer, his wife fasted and
improved. At the expiration of that tim