The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1866-04-11
Buried Alive Extraordinary State
Inents.
Paris, March, l, Cor. Of London Times.

ments.
Paris, March, l, Cor. ofthe London Times
NJ. de Laguerouniere presented petition
in the Senate, on Tuesday, from a person
named De Cornol, pointing out the dan
ger of hasty interments, and suggesting tn
measures he thought requisite to avoid ter
rlble consequences" Among other things
the petitioner demands that the space 0
twenty four hours between the decease ant
lnterment, now prescribed by the law, SHOULD
be heightened to forty-eieht hours that al
electrical apparatus should he kept in thu
sacristy of each church, and that the parish
priests and their eurates should be taueh
how to work it that the body should, at
ter the lapse Of forty eight hours. be sub
mltted to the last and most powerful cleo
trio test; that the solid wooden lid of cot
fins should be done away with, and replaced
by covering of canvas, to be lifted up a
the moment the remains are laid in thu
grave, in order to ascertain, beyond all POS
sibility of doubt, that life is completely ex
tinct, and that what appears to be death i;
not merely lethargic sleep. 8
A rather long debate followed, in which
Cardinal Bonnet, Archbishop of Bordeaux
took leading part. He was decidedly o
opinion that the petition should not be sci
aside by the 'order Of the day." but that il
should be transmitted to the Minister o
the Interior for further action. Some O
the remarks of the venerable prelate pro
duced so great an effect on his auditors a.
to merit particular mention. He said he
had the very best reasons for believing that
the victims of hasty interments were more
numerous than the people supposed. HI
considered the rules and regulations on this
head, as prescribed by law, as very judi
cious, but, unfortunately they were, partic
ularly in the country, nor always executed
as they should be, nor was sufficient impor
lance attached to them. In the village he
was stationed in as assistant curate, in the
first period of his sacerdotal life, he saved
two persons from being buried alive. The
first was an aged man, who lived twelve
hours after the hour prescribed for his in.
tennent by the municipal officer. The
second was man who was quite restored
to life; and in both cases trance, more
prolonged than usual, was taken for actual
death. The other instances l give in the
words of the Archbishop:
."'The next case that occurred to me was
at Bordeaux. A young lady, who bore one
of the most distinguished names in the de
partment, had passed through what was be.
lieyed to be the last agony; and as, appa-
rently, all was over, the father and mother
were torn away from the heart-rending spec
tacle. AS God willed it, happened to pass
by the door of the house at the moment
when it occurred to me to call and inquire
how the young lady was going on When
| entered the room, the nurse, finding the
body breathless, was in the act of covering
the face, and, indeed, there was every ap-
pearance that life had departed. Somehow
or other, it did not seem to me so certain
as to the bystanders. resolved to try.
raised my voice, called loudly upon the
young lady not to give up all hope; that
I was come to cure her, and that I was
about to pray by her side. you do not
see me, said, but you hear what l am
saying My presentiments were not un-
founded. The word of hope l uttered
reached her ear, and affected marvellous
change; or rather. called back the life that
was departing. The young girl survived /;
she is now wife and the mother of chill
dren, and this day the happiness Of two
most respectable families"
The Archbishop mentions another in
stance of a similar revival in town of Hun
gary, during the cholera of 1881, which he
had heard that day from one of his col
leagues of the Senate, as they We're mount
ing the staircase. But the last he related
is SO interesting, and made such sensa-
ton, that it deserves to be repeated in his
own words
In the summer of 1926, on close and
sultry day. in a church which was excessive
y crowded, young priest who was in the
act OF preaching, was suddenly seized with
siddiness, in the pulpit The words he
was uttering became indstinct. he soon lost
the power of speech and sunk down on the
floor. He was taken out of the church and
carried home. All was thought to be over.
Some hours after the funeral bell was toll
I'd, and the usual preparations made for the
nterment. His eyesisht was gone but if
ne could not see like the young ladyI have
alluded to, he could hear. and need not
say that what reached his ears was not cal
,ulated to reassure him. The doctor came.
Examined him, and pronounced him dead.
Ind after the usual inquiries as to his age
md the place OF his birth, gave permission
or his interment next morning. The ven-
srable Bishop in whose cathedral the young
ories.. was preaching, when he was seized
With the fit, came to his bedside to recte
he De Profundis. The body was measur-
ID for the coffin. Night came on, and you
viii easily feel how inexpressible was the
anguish Of the living being in such situa-
ion. At last. amid the voices murmuring
lround him, he distinguished that of one
Who had known him from infancy. That
yoice produced a marvellous effect, and a
uperluman effort. Of what followed next
need not say no more than that the SEEM
ngly dead man stood next day in the same
pulpit. That young priest, gentlemen, is
he same man who is now before you, and
Who, more than forty years after that event
mplores those in authority not merely to
watch vieilantly over the careful execution
If the legal prescriptions with regard to in
erments, but to enact fresh ones, in order
o prevent the recurrence of irreparable
nisfortunes." s
AS | have said, the recital by the Cardi.
'al of what occurred to him produced pro-
ound sensation, and, in spite of all that
'ould be alleged by the reporter of the pc
ition, the Senate voted for referring it to
he Minister of the Interior.
Arrested.
BALTIMORE. March 81 Bradley J John
on, who left Maryland at the outbreak of
ho rohoIl;on and euhsonuontIv rotprnod