Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1866-05-08
IFrOm the cleavcland Herald, s5,b1
Singular Case ofSuspendcd Animation
"A Trance of Twenty-Fours Hours.

"a 1Fance OF 1WenEy-f ours hours.
In great city people are ar dying an and s. Being M
consigned to the claruel house every day
without eresting the slightest ripple 6s, the
living, moving Ifae Of It's infabitantsi, Bit
when: q fellow mortal is supposed to hare de-
parted this life, and arrangements have been
partially made to ccpsigh his tenlaiGs to tter
last resting place, the CONSERVATION of his
friends can be more easily imagined than de-
scribed when they discover that he is not dead,
only sleeping-iD a trance. All the horrors
OF living grave must certainly haunt their
Imagination during the remainder of life.
The fearful picture of human being str1g-
Cling for freedom from narrow vault, where
kind friends have carefully lowered what they
supposed to be liteless body, cunnot be faith
fully represented by the most brilliant imag-
ination.
A case Of this kind, wherein young man
was upon the brink of the grave, occurred a
few days ago, in this city. We withhold the
names of all parties by special request, but
the particulars %e arc at liberty to give
a young German, recently married to a
handsome lady of very respectable pareutage,
was taken suddenly i'll at his place of business
last Friday. He was placed in a carriage and
taken to his residence on Erie street, where
the disease so prostrated his physical powers,
that he lay motionless upon the bed, while
weeping friends surrounded the couch. To
all appearances he was dead, and it was SO
decided. Arrangements were about to be
made tor the lnterment, when the young wife
feeling she could not give him up SO soon, in
sisted that the funeral be postponed until
Tuesday morning. TO crafty the woman thus
Ssoeght so speedily to mourn the loss of her
husband, the funeral was postponed The
dlsconsolate wife spent most of the day on
Monday in the same room with the corpse.
weeping as though her heart would break,
and still cllnging to the idea that he could not
be dead. =,
=, ,Abqat twilight on Monday evening. when
everything about the house was perfectly
quiet, except when the stiffness was broken
by the sighs of the bereaved widow, there
being but few persons in the room, the body
seemed to f1ovs. It was but slight motion,
yet sattclent to arrest the attention of one
fearful eye. =,
When the wife insisted that life was hot
extinct, that the body did move, her friends
became anxious about her reason and tried to
divert her. mind from the sorrowtul sccne.-
Two long hours were spent in conversation,
the friends urging that SHE Was deceived, pos
slbly by the fickering light, as the shadows
it cast might have produced the. effect she
ascribed to Vitality.
The feeling Of that little circle of devoted
friends is known only to themselves and Him
whose all-seeing eye visits the inmost recesses
OF our hearts. During the copversatl6h all
eyes .involnatarily rested. Upon the habili>
ments OF the grave and the features of him
whom they supposed would soon become one
OF its occupants. At the end of the two
hours another slight movement was perceived
by all the party. The scenes which followed
can never be described The wife cluns to
the motionless form of her husband, alternate
~ weeping and begging of him to speak Just
one word, while the friends wept for ioy, has
tened for physician, alarmed the servants
by their strange cohdtict, and presetted
scene ofscontusion generally. When the
physician arrived, the friends were assembled
about the G0'nJ man, suggesting and apply
ing all the restoratives ever heard or dreamed
OF by any of the party, while the. wife, over
whelmsd fifth Joy sEd cG6;nnipistely worn out
with excessive excitement, had swooned away
and was lying at the side of her husband. in
the same deathliks stillness that had embraced
his form but'a few moments before :.
The physician took the necessary steps to
restore the woman and resuscitate the man,
which was speedily accomplished in both
cases, and as VIC write to-day, the woman is
joyous and happy, while the man thinks his
escape from liviBg grave one Of the marked
features of his life.