Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1856-06-14
EVENING STAR.
B q & IE d ALIVE.
A True Narrative of Facts.

feW months, sundry sketches OF persons buried
alive; and always feeling deep interest il
the subject, from an occurrence that tool
place some twenty years ago, he sends tha
Journal the following account of it for publ
cation. He adds that the narrative is a tru,
one-unadulterated with a particle of fiction
written out by q near relative Of his, and il
given in the narrator's own words. 1t should
| serve as warning to those who hasten K
bury their dead out of sight
have been subject to epileptic fits from my
youth upwards, which, though they did nct
deprive me of animation in the sight of those
about me, completely annihilated my owr
consciousness L used to be attacked at all
times and seasons, but most commonly about
| the full of the moon. generally had a warn
ing OF peculiar nature when these attacks
were coming on, that it would be difficult to
describe. Ii was sensation that to be known
must be experienced. My excellent wife Mar.
| thai mean my first wife, who has been dead
| now for the best part of forty years-used to
say that she always observed an unusual pale.
| ness over my complexion, otherwise ruddy,
for day or two before the fit came on. Bless
her soul! she never let me be for one moment
out of her sight, from the instant she had a
suspicion Of my approaching malady. This
benevolence on her part was great means OF
enabling her to subdue the violence OF the fl
when it came, for which purpose her expe-
rienoe had pointed out to her several useful
| applications
l married again after her decease. because
| was oppressed beyond bearing by my lone.
illness, which none but persons in such a stu.
| ation-I mean a widower's-can tell. Ny
second wife, whom L have also buried was
| not SO penetrating in the faculty Of observa
tiOn She was. a woman of an admirable
thrift, and to her economy it was that owe
my preservation to the terrible event that /
am about to detail. Had / been inferred in
lead, it would have been all over with me
Willing to save as much money as possible at
my funeral, she had my body, with all the
usual and proper grief attendant on the cere.
mOny, put into a stout wooden coffin, the
weight of which was increased by a couple of
old hundred heights, placed one on my head
the other at my feet. Thus the thing passed
off well, and money was saved to my heirs
L hereby cast no reflections upon my dear de.
parted wife's regard for me. was convinced,
as told her, that her motive was good and
well did it turn out for me that she was so
thrifty and considerate. She was a true wo-
man, and was plain in her person-but wan
der again from my story.
L had made most excellent dinner-of this
l have perfect recollection. OF more than
this can recOllect nothing until coming out
of my fits, as l suppose-for L quickly ina
gired, feeling the usual sensations, that was
recovering from one of them. L say that on
on coming TO myself, was surprised to find
myself pinioned, and in utter darkness. L
had no space to stir if / would, as soon found,
while l struggled to loosen a sheet or some
such thing, In which 1 was scantily enveloped
Ny hand would not reach my head when ct
tempted to make it do so, by reason of my ell
bow touching the bottom and my hand the
top of the enclosure around me
1t was the attempting to do this, and find
ing myself naked, except with the aforesaid
covering, that struck me that had been en-
tombed alive The thought rushed suddenly
upon me. My first sensations were those of
simple surprise. L was like q child arOu sed
out of deep sleep, and not sufficiently awake
to recognise its attendants. When the truth
flashed upon me in all its fearful energy, I
never can forget the thrill of horror that
struck through me. 1t was as if bullet had
penetrated my heart, and all the blood in nv
body had gushed through the wound Never,
never, can hell be more terrible than the sem
sations Of that moment.
lay motionless for time, petrifed with
terror. Then calm dampness burst forth
from every part of my body. My horrible
doom seemed inevitable; and so strong, at
length became this impression, SO bereft of
hope appeared my situation, that ultimate.
ly recovered from it only TO plunge in the
depth of calm resolute despair. As not the
ness around my soul, resignation to my fate
followed. L began TO think Of death coolly,
and to calculate how long / might survive
before famine closed the hour Of my exist
ence. prayed that L might have fOrtitude
to die without repining. Calmly as then
felt, tried if l could remember how long a
man could live without food. Thus the tran
guilty of my despair made me comparatively
easy, If contrasted with the situation in which
II oil oil ffa~ Aaw@
glimmer upon me. My days must in the end
be numbered. l must die at last was only
perishing a little sooner than l otherwise must
have done. Even from this thought / derived
consolation and now think lite might have
closed calmly upon me, if the pangs of hun
ger had been at all bearable-and l had been
told that they are much more so than is COM
monty believed.
If my memory serves me correctly, this
calm state Of mind did not last long. Reason
soon began to whisper to me that if had
been buried, and the earth closed around my
coffin, should not be able to respire, which
could now do with ease. did not, Of course,
dream Of tie vault in which l was placed,
but considered at first had been buried on
earth. The freedom of respiration gave me
the idea that after all Was not carried forth
for interment, but that L was about to be
borne to the grave, and that there l should
be sHffocated inevitably.
Such is the Inconsistency Of the human
mind, that L, who had just now resigned my
self to die by famine, imagined this Inomenta-
ry mode of death hundred times moro for
midable. The idea that was not yet inferred,
increased my anxiety to be heard from with
out. l calle aloud, and struck the sides and
the lid of the coffin to no purpose, till was
hOarse and fatigued, but all in vain. Silly
silence reigned around me amid the unbroken
darkness l was now stepped in fearful agc-,
n.y. 1 shrieked with horror. L plunged my
nails into my thighs and wounded them. The
coffin was soaked in my blood and by tear
ing the wooden sides Of my prison with the
same maniacal feeling, l lacerated my fin
gers, and wore the nails to the quick, and
soon became m0tionless from exhaustion.
When 1 was myself once more, called aloud
my wife's name. I prayed, and l fear I
blasphemed for I knew not what said;
and 1 thus continued until my strength again
left me, and nature once more sought replen
ishment in temporary insensibility .-..
At this time had vision of a most inde-
Unable character, if it was one, and not a
glance, as am induced to think it was, be-
tween the portals of death into the world of
,r,t Tt III Ial