Prominent physicians from the city and neighboring towns and States, who had flocked to the great capital of Chihuahua since hearing of the wonderful discovery of the scientists, were allowed to enter the room with the Governor’s party.
The scientist, Guillermo Gonzales, examined the bodies first. The Governor, with Helen Hinckley on his arm, passed from one to the other and viewed them in perfect silence.
Nearly one hundred physicians and investigating scientists looked in turn with amazement upon the ebonized forms of the three bodies before them. The Rev. J. T. Note, cold and stiff in the hands of death, lay at the far end of the long death chamber quite alone, and forgotten by everyone present, except the Governor’s party. When the last person had surveyed the ebonized bodies, Guillermo Gonzales addressed them and said:
“Your Honor, Miss Hinckley, and friends, yonder lies the dead body of Rev. J. T. Note, an aider and abettor of the rebels. He is not dead by means of Ebony Fluid, it does not cause the state called death, but from remorse of conscience, the result of taking ‘Memory Fluid.’ He is, therefore, a fit subject upon whom I can demonstrate to you the magic action of Ebony Fluid. It is a knowledge of science we are working for, and the sooner the power of this wonderful fluid is made known to humanity, the sooner the present microbic condition of matter will be extinguished. I will have the body moved to the center of the room, and I will immediately transform this seething mass of microbes into a harmless body of ebony flint.”
Two attendants of the morgue entered at the request of Guillermo Gonzales, and moved the corpse of Rev. J. T. Note to the center of the room, and immediately made their exit on being informed that their services were no longer needed. Everyone stood as near the body as possible, to watch the effect of Ebony Fluid upon the corpse.
Guillermo Gonzales removed the sheet from the corpse. Mortification had set in, and the odor escaping from the body was, to express it mildly, exceedingly disagreeable to the lookers-on. The scientist sprayed the body with a powerful deodorizer, and immediately the offensive odor was gone. Then, inserting a small tube into the mouth of the corpse, he pressed a bulb to which it was connected, and emptied the Ebony Fluid which was in the bulb, into the body. The body jerked and writhed, the face became contorted, and in all, was a very grewsome object.
The most stoic of the scientists and physicians present, turned their faces away to shut out from view the terrible sight before them. It sprang into a sitting posture, then fell back against the hard board with a thud, the limbs rigid and straight. The physicians and scientists looked inquiringly at Guillermo Gonzales and Governor Lehumada.
“Explain, friend Guillermo,” said the Governor; “explain the action of Ebony Fluid upon animal matter.”
The scientist poured a small quantity of the fluid into a thin glass, and holding it high in his hand, said: “The black fluid you see before you we call Ebony Fluid, because of its color. The great struggle the corpse underwent after the injection of this fluid into it, was due to the struggle of the microbes trying to resist the influence of the fluid. The battle was bravely fought, but the microbes were conquered at last. Nothing in life can resist its influence. See this body, only a few moments ago repulsive to the sight and emitting an odor so offensive to the smell, and rank with poison, that if it were allowed to remain in a room for five minutes, every occupant of the room who remained for that length of time in the atmosphere of the poison, would inhale enough bacteria to fill them with disease which would eventually end their lives very shortly. The action of Ebony Fluid after the death of the bacteria, hardens, then petrifies the entire body. Assist me, doctor,” continued the scientist, speaking to the physician next to him, “to lift the body of Rev. J. T. Note, and we will stand it in the corner.”
It required much effort for the two men to lift the body and carry it to the wall. There they stood it erect, and held it in place by means of a stout cord across the shoulders, each end of which was fastened to a large screw in the wall.