The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1877-03-14
Il LAMBERTvILLE. N j.. WEDNESDAY,, MARCH l4 1877.


Oh, how struggled with the feebleness
Of frame and mind that locked within my
breast the powers Of speech How l vainly
tried to shoot--to lift my hand Ito turn my
appealing eye-balls to the faces Of those
around me How prayed for strength that
1 might burst the sluggish bonds Of the DEATH
like leathargy into which plunged, aud
emerging from this appalling stupor---this
swoon and depression Of the vital forces
come back again to light and sound and
strength, and all that makes life desirable and
grand.
Z But all in vain ! laid there without
power to move, to speak, to indicate even BY
the fecblest sign, to those around me, that
life was not yet extinct.
Another day passed. Again saw the
accursed NJ. d. bend over me. felt the soft
touch of his fingers on my wrist--I heard the
snap Of his elegant watch 20 how loathed
and cursed that human monster in my very
souD and, bis voice fell on my ear
Poor fellow II IL all over The silver
cord is loosed-broken the golden bowl |!
Poor fellow, SO handsome and soyoung -
The voice of Mr. Eli Jones had become
thick, and SO husky with Unsurpassed emo
ton that his uttemnces were painfully mar
ticuhte, while the cold stony horror cleaning
from his Dyes actually chilled my soul.
But presently ho grew sufficiently calm to
proceed.
"Thenoxt thing that / remember-after the
fau f,f In
ment--was the sombre figure of an UNDER
taker, bending over me, with tape-measure
in his hand. Them by and by, there was the
smell of varnish in the room--thero were
muified voices--low, whispered orders
mournful rustling of the curtains in the sum-
mer breeze. There was an odor Of campIlor
and other drugs used about the bodies Of the
dead, o melancholy moaning of the wind
without and far-away sound of carriages
in the street. There was tho repulsive sound
of yielding screws and
darkness SO intense, that, like the impenetra-
BILE gloom that once cnshrouded old Egypt's
face. it could almost literally be felt
=" The closeness of the air was uncomfortable
beyond expression. 1t was stifiing--it was
horrible and oppressive, beyond what human
language can portray. gasped and strug-
gled for breath 1t seemed as if a ponderous
iron band had been firmly riveted around nv
breast Nay, as if the very Alps had been
piled upon my chest And the smell--neyer,
till my dying day, can forget the horrible,
repulsive, siekening cadaverous smell 1t
was the foul, putrescent stencil of the charnel
house
"Where was / nowe was in tho midst
Of the dead ! Yes, had been buried alive i
The horror that surged through my bosom at
that moment, human language is too i'm
measurably poor to express. So terrible was
the shock that swooned away.
:" What time elapsed before consciousness
again returned am unable to say, but 1T
must have been many hours. was aroused
at length from this death-like stupor by the
low, indistinct murmur of approaching voices
and the faint glimmer of advancing lights.
Joy. unspeakable joy, thrilled my bosom,
for doubted not these betokened the nigh
approach of some God-sent resurrcctionists,
and hope thrilled my bosom ut the prospect
Of a speedy release from the horrible abode
of the dead.
Then--soon-there was the sound Of I'M
clasping bolts--a massive door swung on its
hinges, and a blaze of light dispclled the
sepulchral gloom.
!" But o. what spectacle met my shudder-
ing gaze A vast room, with skylights over
head, and around me, stretched on tables of
stone, score or two Of staring, hideous
corpscs.
" Merciful heavens ! | was in the dssect-
ing room of medical college and there,
amid the henitless laugh and jest of throng
of students, was | to be offered up a living
sacrifice on the altar of science. Gentlemen
remarked tall, handsome man, with jetty
moustache, approaching the table, whercon
my body was placed, and at tho same time
which he had laid carelessly on my breast,
Gentlemen, the subject you see before you is
a rare and a valuable one. We procured him
at great risk and expense. Such case Of dis
ease you will rarely see-perbaps not once dur
ing the ordinary course of human life /; there
AotO3 BcheiShiCh, pip iiboiOot III tAto UtDDctttOI
greatly exceeds the usual course of matters
of this sort. will now proceed to make an
iucision (taking scalpel fiom the case)
down the medium line of the sternum will
then dissect back the integuments, thus OK
posing the simultaneous fasoia, with the
pectoralis, major and minor muscles after
which, gentlemen, we will proceed to disar-
ticulate the sternum from its connection with
the costal cartilages and thus expose the heart
and lungs. in stu Lord have mercy on us
AS the cold, keen, glittering edge of the knife
touched my skin, sprang to my feet with
"A cry that shiyercd to the tingling star,l'
Heavens and earth There was a rasping of
feet, a crash, and Internal hub-bub all
around sound like unto the rolling Of
barrow-load of trunks, valises, band-boxes,
ct al, and the cultural drone of the most dis
NAL monotones the world ever heard.
There was rough slap on my shoulder.
q" Wake up Jones. What the deuce are
you snoring there about Wake up Rouse
yourself, old fellow Express is here. Big
niUltsnara ali Q You eaamod Lind n, faintx