A Fever in the Heartland by Timothy Egan

Author:Timothy Egan [Egan, Timothy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2023-04-04T00:00:00+00:00

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Her kidneys were failing. She’d lost a tremendous amount of blood. Results from the lab showed a large quantity of albumen in her urine, evidence of severe inflammation. Should her kidneys cease to excrete urine, Madge would die of toxic nephritis. Dr. Kingsbury knew the odds of her living were not good; the longest anyone had stayed alive after taking a similar dose of the same poison was twenty-five days, according to the medical literature he’d consulted. Bichloride of mercury does not just attack the kidneys, but has a corrosive effect on other organs. The pain is ceaseless and widespread, with burning in the mouth, throat, lungs, abdomen. Gums bleed. Reflexes are delayed. Sleep is difficult. Tremors are frequent. Still, people did survive smaller doses. In the best light, Madge had a fighting chance against the toxicity of the poison.

But at the same time, she was burning up. Several times a day, the sheets had to be changed. The heat was from inflammation in the places where Madge had been bitten, Dr. Kingsbury believed. He rubbed her open wounds with a topical compound and tried to drain the abscess, but the infections only worsened, the red areas expanding. In the time before antibiotics were discovered by a London doctor in 1928, an infection, even one that started as a simple cut, could kill a person. Madge’s body was a furnace.

Every day, Ermina sat by the bedside of her beloved friend, usually joined by the attorney Smith, and one of the parents. Madge didn’t talk much during these visits. She went days without speaking at all, and days when she lapsed into long periods of unconsciousness. Her small bed, with metal bars as a headboard, was tucked in a corner of a second-floor bedroom. Her mother would press her hand over the hot forehead. Her fever rarely dropped below 103.

Around town, rumors had spread about a sordid story involving the most powerful man in Indiana and a likable young woman of Irvington. Her absence at work was unexplained, prompting a wave of gossip. It was a small world, the Hoosier statehouse. Stories, particularly ones with a hint of scandal, spread quickly. People knew she’d been involved in some legislative business with Steve. And now, word got out that she was dying after a night out with him. Among those in Madge’s circle, the people who loved her most, a decision was made at last to bring in the law. They would risk the shame, risk Stephenson’s fist and his exhaustive network. With every passing day of pain, the cruelty of what he had done became more of a focus. He must be brought to justice. But how? Madge was the principal witness, and she was fading fast. Without her testimony, without her voice in court, the case would be nearly impossible to prove. The Grand Dragon’s wall could never be breached.

Smith had a possible solution: a “dying declaration,” made by a witness in advance of certain death. There was one major challenge.

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