The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1856-05-28
Buried Alive.

sFTf "a FN4zz BuI1ed Alive. tEFe -ezg ~
A correspondent Of Reynolds Miscellany,
who has been for many years practicing ply
sician, says that he has seen during the last few
months, sundry sketches ofpersons buried alive;
and always feeling a deep interest in the sub
ject from an occurrence that took place twenty
years ago, he sends that journal the following
account of it for publication. He adds that the
narrative is a true eone-unadulterated with a
particle of fiction. 1t was written out by near
relative of his, and is given in the narrator's
own words. It should serve as warning to
those who hasten to bury their dead out ofsight'
| have been subject to epileptic fits from my
youth upwards, which, though they did not de-
prive me of animation in the sight ofthose about
me, completely annihilated my own conscious
ness. I used to be attacked at all times and
seasons, but most commonly about the full of
the moon generally had a warning of a Pc
euliar nature when these attacks were coming
on, that it would be difficult to describe. Itwas
a sensation that, to be known, must be expert
enced. Ny excellent wife Martha-I mean my
first wife, who has been dead now for the best
part of forty years-used to say that she al
ways noticed an unusual paleness over nv COM
plexion, otherwise ruddy, for day or two be-
fore the fit came on. Bless her soul! she never
let me. be 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 vio-
1ence of the fit when it came, for which purpose
her experience had pointed out to her several
useful applications. ..@
l married again after her decease, because I
was oppressed beyond bearing by my loneli
ness, which none but persons in such situa-
tion-l mean widower's-can tell. NY sec
ond wife, whom | have also buried was not SO
penetrating in the faculty Of observation. She
was 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 mon
ey as possible at my funeral, she had my body,
with all the usual and proper grief attendant on
the ceremony, put into stout wooden coffin,
the weight of which was increased by couple
Of old hundred-weights, placed one at my head,
the other at my feet. Thus the thing passed
off WELL and money was saved to my heirs.
hereby cast no reflection upon myedear depart
ed wife's regard for me. was convinced, as l
told her, that her motive was good; and well
did it turn out for me that she was so thrifty
and consderate. She was true woman, and
was plain in her person-but l wander again
from my story. .-.-
/ had made a most excellent dinner-of this
have perfect recollection. gilmore than this
can recollect nothing until coming out of my
fits, as I suppose-for quickly imagined, feel
ing the unusual sensations, that | was recover
ing from one of them. say, that on coming
to myself, was surprised to feel pinioned and
in utter darkness. had no space to stir if l
would, as | soon found, while l struggled to
loosen sheet or some such thing in which
was scanhly enveloped Ny hand would not
reach my head when I attempted to make it do
so, by reason of my elbow touching the bottom
and my hand the top of the enclosure round me.
1t was the attempting to do this, and finding,
myself naked, except with the aforesaid cover
ing, that struck me that.I had been entombed
alive. The thought rushed suddenly upon me-
My first sensations were those ofsimple surprise
l was like child aroused out of deep sleep,
and not sufficiently awake to recognise its at
tendants. When the truth flashed upon me in
all its fearful energy, l never can forget the
thrill of horror that struck through me. Itwas
as if a bullet had penetrated my heart, and all
the blood in my body had gushed through the
wound. Never, never can hell be more terri
BILE than the sensations of that moment.
| lay motonless for a time, petri6ed with ter
ror. Then calm dampness burst from everv
part Of my body. Ny horrible doom seemed
inevitable; and so strong at length became this
impression, so bereft ofhope appeared my situa
ton, that ultimately recovered only to plunge
in the depth of a calm, resolute despair As
not the faintest ray of hope could penetrate the
darkness round my soul, resignation to my fate
followed. I began to think of death cooly, and
TO calculate how long l might survive before
famine closed the hour ofmy existence pray
ed that might have forttude to die without
repining Calmly as then felt l tried if I could
how long man could live without
food. Thus the tranquility of fmy despair made
me comparatively easy, if contrasted with the
situation in which felt myself afterwards, when
hope began to glimmer upon me. My days
must in the end be umbered-I must die at last
l was only perlshing little sooner than 9th
erwise must have done. Even from this thought
derived consolation; and now think life might
have closed calmly upon me, if the pangs of
hunger had been at all bearable-and had |
9o0H 'oiu eIldl tleJ are uuCH IloIe SO Cndn is
believed. ..s.. |
If my memory serves me correctly, this calm
'tate of mind did not last long. Reason soon
began to whisper to me thatifI had been buried,
md the earth closed around my coffin, | should
lot be able to respire, which could now do
With ease. did not, of course, dream Of the
'ault in which | was placed, but considered at
irst had been buried in earth. The freedom
If respiration gave me the idea that after all
vas not carried forth for interment, but that
vas about to be borne to the grave, and there l
hould be suffocated inevitably. @ rs*
Such is the inconsistency of the human mind,
hat |, who had just now resigned myself to die
y famine, imagined this momentary mode of
cath a hundred times more formidable. The
lea that was not yet inferred, increased my
nxiety to be heard from without. l called
loud, and struck the sides and the lid of the
ofin to no purpose, till l was hoarse and fa-
gued, but all in vain. A Silly silence reigned
round me amid the unbroken darkness. Twas
ow stepped in fearful agony. I Isbreked with
orror. | plunged my nails into my thighs and
ounded them. The coffin was soaked in nv