The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1877-02-09
DROWNED a Nd FROZEN.

III the history oil weil-knOwn st. IOuiSan,
OF such a nature as To be worthy Of repro
duction. The story is here given as nearly
AS possible in the words of the narration,
and strikingly illustrates the truth of state
ments often made regarding the sensations
experience when i'll mortal peril Of certain
kinds:
My experience has been remarkable
one. Twice l have suffered death and
still i live. / mean that twice have gone
through all that constitutes death, except
the actual extinction of the vital spark
Both times l was considered dead, and So
pronounced by medical experts, ard both
times passed and remained for some :ime
beyond the point OF seusibiIity. The first
time was 10y drowning and the second by
freezing. The sensations in both Instances
are AS fresh and vivid in my memory as
when they first happened, years ago.
was crossing bridge over wide but shall
low stream, i'll a lonely place, and accident
ally fell off. " hen | say shallow, 1 mean
Tor such wide body os water. 1t was over
my head by two or three feet. | saw no
body. near me, aud could no: swim stroke
l knew how deep the water was and gave
myself up for lost. The quickuess Of the
sense when sudden death seems impending
has frequently been noted, but still, with
out experience, no one can realize it. 1t is
as if ones whole life were spread out in
one panorama before HIM, every portion Of
which was visible at once. Even minute
details o; things long forgotten, aud which,
when they happened were trIfiing that
they apparently made no impression ON the
memory, stand out IN sharp and bold out
lines. l remembered, for instance games
oi marbles played when L was a boy, and "a
futile attempt L once made To tIansmute a
''commoney" into "white alley by greas-
ing 1t with lard, wrapping it III rag, and
roasting it i'll the fire. l remember how
the marble burst in the opei alton. and how
piece Of it struck aud cut the cheek of
the boy who had beguiled me into the ex-
pertinent, and the satisfaction experienced
at the retrIbutIve justice. 1t seemed AS ii
everything L had ever done, suffered, or
thought was presented to my memory at :,
single flash.
Then | struck the water, whom a sound,
which L have since learned to lIken to the
roar of Niagara, burst on my ears, and
stunned the with its overwh helmIng volume
L remember brief instant of struggling
and clutching. and then a sense of sinking
-siuking g-slnking-until | reached the
depth of thousands of fathoms. | neither
suffered nor felt alarm, but had "a vague
feeling Of being irrcsistibly borne to some
catastrophe the climax of which would be
terrible. Suddenly | found myself pos
sessed of the power OF floating or waiting
myself along by mere volition. With de-
iicious feeling of languid Incidence | suf-
fered myself to float about-not in the
water, but in the air-skimming over the
surface of the ground in whatever direction
chose, hilher and thither as a waywaId
fancy led. l was CONSCIOUS that il was a
new power, and | exul;ed in its possession
aud reasoned on its nature. 1 found that
my bOOy was a. light aS the air in which IL
moved, and imagined that a thistle down
would feel as 1 did, If possessed of con-
seiou>ncss. Then l Was in the water again,
and everything around me had IA roseate
hue, which speedily turned to- green, then
to violet, and finally to utter darkness, and
tEen all was black.
AS subsequently learned, some men in
a skit a half a mile away had seen NE fall
into the water and hurried my assist
ance, but L had disappeared before they
reached the spot. Many minutes elapsed
before they found me, and full half an hour
afterwards before the physicians who had
been summoned arrived. they pronounced
me dead, and that they made any attempt
To resusc.tate me was due solely tU the per
sistence of All intimate friend Of nj ine ho
had accompanied them.
Nearly dozen years after the above ex-
pcIiclIce l bUcaIne Il citizen of the West,
and commenced opening Is new farm in
sparsely settled country. The place was
about ten miles from the nearest town, and
one pleasant day, near the last of Dcceni-
Der, | went to the latter in a light spring
wagon u get some supplies for Christmas
festivities. The day Was mild that dad
not even wear all overcoat. About the
time l started home, which WAS "A little
after sundown, it began to grow suddenly
cod, and presently a storm, almost amount
ing " a hurricane, broke from tue north,
bringing with it the temperature of Nova
ZemOia, In this region of marked climatic
vicIssitudcs l never before o- since knew
any great. Tie mercury fell III an hour
to forty degrees below zcr". Under or-
dinary circumstances l could easily have
made the ride home in that time, but was
going III the teeth uf the wu.d, So that |
could make but httle over half the usual
speed. L suffered severely from the Geld,
but no more than | had many "A time be
fore aud have many a time siHce, but, AS
you may Inagiue, aas anxious IL gel home
as quickly as p,,ssible. Wheu 1 nad got
within couple Of miles OF there, | found
the weather growing pleasant again. My
ears, that had stung aud salarted with the
cold, no longer troubled nre. My hands,
though still numb, had firm grip of the
lines, and seated III the bottom of the
wagon, Ith my back and shoulders resting
ON tile seat, | would have been quite COM
Portable, except tha: Was 50 drowsy THAI
could scarcely keep awake, L coniorted
myself with the reflection that L would
soon be at home snusy tucked IN bed,
where L coad sleep Ia my hearts conteut.
Whilst induiging IN tbs pleasing reveric l
dropped asleep, and what followed | only
learned from my family.
They had concluded that, finding the
sudden change in temperature, had either
determined to spend the night in town. Oh
had returned there Tor that purpose, i'll
Case | had started home before Tie cold
began. At eight clock, having given me
up, they retired to bed and To sleep. About
nine . clock my wife WAS awakened by tie
repeated whinuying of hoIsc III front ui
the house. She never suspected that IL was
ours, but took IL tor "a stray, and from
motives Of humanity called up one of the
men and ordered il To be put IN the stable.
When the man went cut and fou:id That
it was our own horse, aud that was in the
wauou anna, e,tf liz daad and f,.,zrf, si AZ Ia.