Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1873-05-15
Miraculous EScane.

The fertile imagination of the most
sensational novelist or playwright sell
dom produces anything at all probable
(says the Philadelphia Press which has
not its parallel in strict truth. We are
Row to tell a story of three cities, Lewes
OelawareL, Philadelphia and New
not that our facts are obtained from
wholly trustworthy sources. On the
11th of last month (March), Capt. S. Fl.
Mills, of New York city, was drowned,
or, as it has turned out, merely sup
posed to be drowned, at Lewes, Del.
He fell overheard from his schooner.
Upon the body being recovered, and
after attempts to restore life had failed,
it was placed in a coffin, and then again
in the usual outer box, and shipped by
Adams Express to the friends of the I'M
fortunate man in New York city.
1t remained in Philadelphia from six
o'clock in the evening to n o'clock at
night. Upon its arrival in New York,
the certificate of the Lewes Oelaware)
doctor was discovered to be somewhat
informal, and the advice of the Board of
Health was asked. 1t was at last con-
Guided to open the cases, and when this
was done the man was found to be alive.
The best medical aid was immediately
called in, and it was ere long thought
possible to remove the Captain with
safety to the Bellevue Hospital, where
he now is. He is not only doing well,
but there is every probability of his
speedy and permanent recovery. How
he existed, confined within these airless
cases, passes comprehension. He was
boxed up for thirty-fve hours, a length
of time very few persons would care to
attempt existence merely without food
or drink.
He will live to tell his strange expert
ence. The would-be novelist will find
here a mine. Was he unconscious the
while, or was the terrible fate which
seemed inevitable present to his under
standing, are questions which it would
be pleasant to have answered. We trust
that in mercy he was not permitted to
know aught till his awakening, for if
he was conscious during his journey,
the mental torture may so have worked
upon him that he will live his term with
darkened mind. His case is certainly a
most extraordinary one, and should
1dN0 OlG CAtn1I1duuOh vi n1C11Si1 ga
perts. Doubtless the officers of the
Adams Express Office in this city will
give any additional information to those
who wish to study and are capable OF
giving their personal experience of such
a rare and interesting occurrence
clearly, Capt. Mills can do 50, for he
was so nearly drowned that he must
have known all but the final gasp OF
death.
How narrowly he escaped being buried
alive may be imagined from the fact
that up to the time of opening the box
there was no idea that he lived. Even
then he might have been sent to his
grave had not the peculiar flush upon
his face attracted attention. One might
well shudder, remembering how difficult
it sometimes is to tell the living from
the dead, and that the imagination car
picture nothing more horrible than q
breathing man consigned to a tomb.
We have heard of other incidents where
the living have been all but buried, and
indeed buried, but we do not cal
to mind a case as wonderful as this il
all its details. AS bearing upon the
affair, the intense cold about March II
should be remembered.