Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1871-03-09
Perils of Premature Burials.
WE remember viyidiy the horror D,

WE remember wildly the horror pro-
duced, while yet in our boyhood, when an
elder sister read from the Utica Observer
story entitled Buried Alive" The per-
son had fallen into cataleptic condition,
becoming cold and rigid while yet con-
scious, and was duly coffined and buried.
He was exhumed by yresurrectionists," car
ried to medical college, and placed on
the table of the demonstrator of anatomy !;
few shocks of the galvanic battery par
TALLY aroused him, and on the wounding
of his breast by the knife, he gave signs of
life, and by proper treatment was fully re-
suscitated. Ten or twelve years after
wards, a relative, where we were visiting,
told us of having been present when the
body of her son-in-law was made ready for
the coffin, and perceiving, as she imagined,
q warm spot on the left breast, daughter
who was sitting by as this was told, cried
out with horror, "Do not talk any more
of it; the idea is too dreadful to think of.
But we did think over and over again of
the horror of interring living person. 1t
was hardly probable, in the case in ques-
ton, that such a thing did occur, for the
body remained unburied long enough to
allow return to consciousness. But in
this country the peril of interment, before
death has actually taken place, is often
very great. For years past it has been
very common for persons in supposed
health to fall down suddenly, with every
appearance of having died. We do not re-
gard sudden death with horror, as it is
often painless, and exempts the person
from the anxiety and other unpleasant ex-
periences which so often accompany 4
lingering dissolution. But there is a
fearful liability of being prostrated by
catalepsy-the counterfeit of death
under such circumstances that the persons
having the body in charge will not hesi
tate about a prompt burial. We could
wish that the old Oriental practice OF
cremation was in fashion among US.
There would be a. least the comfortable
reflection of no suffocation in coffin
besides the application of fire would gen.
orally arouse the cataleptic person to a
manifestation of life. Soms years ago a
story was copied into the Rochester
Democrat, purporting to be the experience
of man in low state of health, who was
compelled to seek shelter in deserted
house in Illinois, where he fell asleep.
He was found there in a cataleptic trance,
and supposed to have died. In this con-
dition he was removed and prepared for
burial, conscious all the time of what was
going ON, but unable to utter sound OF
make a sign of life. His condition was
fortunately discove- ed before it was too
late. The story may be fiction, but il
did not read like one. We have several
times repeated the story, although it is
too serious for jest, except when re-
garded entirely on the Iudicrous side, oi
a woman who, while borne to the place OF
interment, was aroused to consciousness
by the jostling of her coffin against the
walls of house, as the bearers clumsily
turn d the corntr. She was speedily re
leased from her cerements and conveyed
home, where she lived several years
longer. She fell into decline and died
the funeral again took place, and the pro
cession set out for the grave. As it drew
near the house at the corner, the husband
wiped his eyes hastily, and cried out tC
the bearers, BE careful as you turn the
rner."-Aleraader Wider, II. d., in til