Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1875-07-28
Not Buried Alive.

Irenaus, in the n. Y. Observer. after Civ
ing his experience in regard tn the stories
circnltted about people being buried
Tive. gives lis some very instructive intor-
nation in regard TO the practices and eau
ton Use in other countries. He s,vs:-
"A few days ago read in Boston d,i-
lv paner. Il fearful account nf the burial
Of il womln aiiv. at We>tticld, Mass. Th,.
description SAYS that the l.idy was buried
L year and Il half ago. and was recen ly
exhumcd for burial in another lot. SOM,
persons present hal the curiosity to open
the coffin, and discovered to their horror.
that the corpse WAS turned over. and the
hands of the dead were clutchel into The.
hair of her head. while her burial clothing
was torn to >hreds in IN my places. There
would seem to be little doubt that She wa>
buried alive. and that she met Il horrible
death In her grave
- have seen So many of these or very
similar statements, all Of which have
proved on inquiry, to be fictitious, that
took the trouble to cut the account from
the paper and send it by mail to Il gen le-
MN in Westtirll asking him if the facts
are us therein stated.
The return mail brought me a letter
from him. saying thrt the account is :,
sheer fabric.,tion; not Il particle of truth
in ii except thai the lady was buried Il wear
or two ago. All the rest is mere inven-
tl"n to make a sensational paragraph. 4
grarelc>s scamp wrote the account AMI
published it in village paper, from which
1t found lis way into the city papers 1t
WIS Immediately denied by the Westtirll
NeWsicHcr, which also stated that the lady
who wa, said to have ben b lricd alive
was made the subject of Il y 'st n0rtem ex-
animation. was then Inferred. and ha> not
been disturbed since. The whole commu-
nitv is 81 thoroughly Indignant at this
hoax. thtt it is said if hr ever perpelrajes
another such outrage upon the feelings of
this community. he need borrow no ironb-
le about turning over in his coffin after be-
is put unicr ground for he will be thor
ouyhly dead before his burial
But in not one of the many papers in
which the origin,l lie WAS published have
seen the denial, and hundreds of thou
sands of people will brlieve II, long as
they live, that in the wear 1874. u womrn
WIS accidentally buried alive in Westticld
Mass. Twenty AMI thirty Years hence ii
will he quoted rs one of the instances of
premature burial which shock the sen,i-
billirs of the limiI and nervous
Again and again have taken pains 10
ascertain the trnth Of stories of this kind
and in no one case, in thirtv-tive years of
constant watrhfulnr-s of the press h we
learned that there WAS Il p rirle of truh h
in thr report. And if the opinion of an
expert in news is worth anything. | have
no hesitation in saying that ito not BE-
lirve there is any authenticated case on
record in this rv. of Il person ,vinr
been accidentally buried while vt alive
In times of great cpi lemic>. when the
dead are hlrriei into ready mtd- graves
it may he possible that inevitable death
has been anticipated by mi taking it for the
coma that prcce,le> it. But even these
must be very rare. and they are never dis
covered. But in the ordinary course OF
civilized and Christi IN experience. where
the decent customs of society are observed.
the pro ability OF a person being burie |
alive is not one TO millions
- In many places on the continent of
Europe there has existed in Years past
and doubtless the practice is not vet abln-
donrd, of d'ppSiling all the ,ira in a house
of waiting. adj ,inng the cemetery. where
by simple process. Il test of life Is ap-
piled.
"One If The houses for this purpose was
in use ~ Wrintr. .wh' n WIS lh..rr in 1888
1t was closed when applied for admission
AMI WIS obliged TO i,. content with look
inT through a gllS> window into the rnval
tomb. chamber or vault in which wa>
ih,. body of the Grand Duke in the center.
in hi> coffin. while in on" corner were III.
c fins and bodies Of Goethe AMI Schil-
lrr. The Grand Duk" had ordered that
the poets should he lail one on each side.
Of HIM in this comfortable beI-chinhpr
but royal etiquette forbade that such in
f'rlor clay as poets are m:td. Of should
sleep by the side of kim and 30 they
We're put into Il corner. while the Grand
Duke lies cold and alone in the middle.
AT Halle. where everything seemed tn
be dead. though it has its University with
more thln 4 thousand Students. and its Or
phan House of FrIllko with more than
two thous ma children. went to the Gem
ptrrv where is the grave of Gc>eniuS and
there foInd a h 'usc with n simple apparatus
for testing the presence of life in ,lral n
In one room WAS Il little couch for the body
TO rrpo~e on. with all the comforts of an
invalldS chamber. On each finger of lhr
person is placed L thimble and from each
thin lie extends Il thread to one that passes
into An adjoining room. and fastened TO :,
4 dclic:,t. lv-:,iiusled bell. Here sits or
lies an attendant. in whose ear this bell
will linklc if one of the fingers of the bod,
in the Othe, room stir> ever SO gently
Abnt seventy persons every year are thu
tested, and the sexton told me that no.
even tradition tells of one person thu,
tested ever being found alive in Halle.
1t is obvious that the habit of using
this test tends to the neglect of some o
those precautions which aft ctinn and hu
m,nity always dictate elsewhere. AMI Il
they fail to find any living among tn,
dead by the tests. we may well belirv,
that the huri,. of lh'' living is about as un
likely in our country rs that :, lropar
should change his spots or AN Ethiopian
his skin.