The_Resurrectionist_The_Lost_Work_of_Dr

What Bernard and no one else realized (until the release of Spencer Black’s journals many years
later) is that Elise returned to the lab on the night of Bernard’s departure. Intent on destroying
everything her husband had made, she smashed an oil lamp onto his desk, igniting a fire. She then
began to shoot his animals with a small pistol. Spencer, hearing the gunshots and seeing the flames
from the house, rushed to stop the blaze. Black described the confrontation in his journal:
I raced across the field, desperate to save my work. I dismounted from my horse
with such haste that I nearly did myself in at that moment. I rushed inside and was
greeted, without warning, by my Elise and her pistol. She fired and struck me in the
leg. I know she had intended to strike my chest. It is fortunate for me that she didn’t
aim for the ceiling, for then I would certainly be dead. Elise then shot my dog and,
after it was killed, continued throughout the burning laboratory, killing all of my
animals that remained. The conflagration was too intense and Elise was soon
engulfed in its flames. I pulled her to safety.
Elise was nearly burned to death: she was blinded, could no longer speak, and was hardly able to
move. It is miraculous she did survive, because her chances of dying of an infection were extremely
high.
Black told no one of the accident, not even Bernard. When Alphonse returned home (after fleeing
from Bernard’s custody), father and son took Elise to the caravan deep in the woods to perform an
emergency surgery. Black feared that the natural healing process would interfere with the
effectiveness of surgical manipulation.
We brought the caravan north several miles from any home, unhitched the horses
and tied them off at a great distance so they would not be disturbed. I prepared to
work there in a glen, far removed from everything.
I had to attempt a skin graft; a procedure this complex was not done often and
few surgeons have had any success. For two nights we worked, Alphonse and I. He
was frightened and unwilling but I offered him no alternative. I was in short supply
of anesthesia and what I administered was insufficient. She was in such horrific
agony, but there was no alternative.
Our caravan was too far for any to hear; the lights were oppressively dim and
she screamed so loud; it was truly awful. Finally, I had to stop. The operation was
not going to work.
I still cannot believe what has occurred. That fire was like the whisper of God; it
swept through everything, proud and determined, leaving only myself and that poor
woman, that poor thing so destroyed in my arms.
The newspapers criticized Black, attributing the fire to his irresponsible character and reckless
scientific experiments; no one knew that Elise had been critically injured in the blaze. Black had no
choice but to leave Philadelphia and venture where no one knew of the accident. Elise was
indefinitely confined to the caravan, and eventually she became dependent on opium.