The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1852-11-25
PREMATURE BURIAL.


A most extraordinary case of prcmatur,
burial, says Paris letter, has just occurct
i'll the Commune La Vachc, j., the Drom,
of which Il near relative of the victim, in
llSbting Lyons, has written IL full accoun
to one Of the leading journals of that city
1t seems that the deceased, named Mari;
Victoire Paradis, aged 20, had been grad,l
ally declining in health for about six months
that on the 9Th of last mouth, lit iO O'Clock
in the evening, she appeared to breathe he
last. Her father, mother, young couSi,
Of 1s, and other friends standing at he
bedside, no doubt Of her hcing dead, ant
In the course of All hour the assistants pro
ceeded to lay her out, when to their horror
her mouth was seen to open. They wen
or, however, with their melancholy task
and got her at last wrapped in winding
sheet.
The next day the friends proceeded tc
bury her, but AS she was a member of til.
sisterhood of the Immaculate Conception, il,
Xhich the dead arc always carried to the
i..ace Of. burial in nnnn coffin sy;tl. tlle
face uncovered, the decease was seen to
open her eyes, which so terrified the bearers,
that they set down the coffin and called
ufJoh OHC vi IuC SliPCAAOiS vi LuC ofUcT, w
whom they related what they had seen
but when the superior arrived on the spot,
the girls eyes were closed, SO she only laugh
ed at their terror, and ordered them to pro-
ceed to the cemetry. The young woman''s
eyes opened again at the gate of the ceme-
try; but the burial still went on. The cof-
fin was shut and lowered into the grave,
bnt when "A few shovels-full of ea,th had
been thrown in, knocking was distinctly
heard in the inside of the coffin. This
knocking grew louder and louder as the
grave was filled, and at last, the sexton, half
dead with terror, threw down his shovel and
ran home, where he took to his bed. in
which lie still remains. Her friends now
had the coffin dug up and opened; but
seeing that the corpse gave 10 sign Of life,
they had it buried again, and proceeded to
fill up the grave, when the knockings were
again heard louder than ever.
The coffin was now taken up a second
time, and carried into the church, where it
remained until the 18th. A doctor who
was sent for from Valcnce, opened vein,
from which the blood flowed abundantly.
Incredible as it seems, even this fact was net
considered as convulsiye of death not having
taken place, and the poor girl was now bur
led for the third time the same knockings
being again heard as distinctly as before,
when the earth was beginning to be thrown
in. But the assistants nevertheless looked
upon her as dead, and this time the burial
was completed, notwithstanding the knock
rings. Some eighty of the persons present
atthese extraordinary proceedings, hereupon
drew up and signed u petition to the Prose-
'cutor General Of the Republic, who imme-
.diately visited the spot. His first care was
TO prohibit all access to the graveyard, and
it is to be hoped that the coffin will be open.
ed and the position Of the deceased ascer-
tanned. But as yet nothing farther has
,,transpired, upon the subject ,.........
...>, It is really hard to believe that ignorance
land prejudice can still be so strong and
@that, attes 90 many we'll authenticated cases
q al the seeming extinction of life, in cases Of
trance, swoon, catalepsy, DC, where never
theless, the patients, though apparently dead
for days and even weeks, have yet been re.
stored to life by the judicious perseverance
Of the enlighted cares of those around them
= q young woman in the prime of youth, and
surrounded by relations and friends, should
a'have been thus stupidity consigned to the
most horrible death of which the imagina
ton can conceive! a