The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1877-01-19
DROWNING AND FREEZING.


How Person Feels when Near to Death
A Mans Experience of Frost and Water.
A gentleman of st. Louis, who has
passed through the experience of par
tial death from drowning ard freezing,
thus tells his experience. The story
strikingly illustrates the truth of similar
statements made regarding the sensation
of death when in mortal peril OF certain
kinds
"My experience has been remarlSa-
BILE one. Twice have suffered death,
and still live. 4 mean that twice 1
have gone through all that constitutes
death, except the actual extinction of
the vital spark. The first time was by
drowning and the second by freezing.
The sensations in both instances are as
fresh and vivid in nay memory as they
were wheD the events happened, years
ago. L was crossing bridge over a
wide but shallow stream, in lonely
place, and accidentally fell off. When
/ say shallow, mean for such
a wide body of water. 1t
was over my head by two or three
feet. L saw nobody near me
and could not swim stroke. knew
how deep the water was, and gave my
self up for lost. The quickness of the
senses when sudden death seems ion.
pending has frequently been noted, but
still, without experience, no one can
realize it. 1t is as if ones whole life
were spread out III panorama before
him, every portion of which was visible
at once. Every minute detail of
things long forgotten, and which, when
they happened, were so tritiing that
they apparently made no impression on
the memory, stand out in sharp and
bold outline. / remembered, for in
stance, games of marbles, played when
was boy, and futile attempt once
made to transmute 'cOmmoney' into
white alley by greasing it with lard.
wrapping it in a rag, and roasting it in
the fire. / remember how the marble
burste6 in thu operation, and how q
piece of it struck and cut the cheek of
the boy who had beguiled me into the
experiment, and the satisfaction expe-
rienced at the retributive justice. 1t
seemed as if everything 1 had ever
done, suffered or thought was present
ed to my memory at a single fash.
Then L struck the water, wnen sound,
which l have since learned to hken 10
the roar of niagara, burst on my ears
and stunned me with its overwhelming
volume. 1 remember a brief instant
OF struggling and clutching, and then
sense of sinking-sinking- sinking
til L had reached depth of thousands
of fathoms. neither suffered pain nor
felt alarm, but had vague feeling of
being irresistibly borne to some catas-
trophe, the climax to which would be
terrible. Suddenly found myself pos
ing myself along by mere volition. With
delicious feeling of languid Incidence
l suffered myself to float about-not in
the water, but In the air-skimming
over the surface of the ground in what
ever direction chose, hither and thith-
er, as hayward fancy led. l was con-
scious that it was new power, and ex-
ulted in its possession and reasoned on
its nature. found that my body was as
light as the air in which it moved, and
imagined that thistle-down would feel
as did, if possessed of consciousness.
Then l was III the water again, and
everything around me had roseate hue,
which speedily changed to green, then
to violet, and finally to utter darkness,
and then all was blank.
AS 1 subsequently learned, some men
in skif half mile away had seen me
fall into the water and hurried to my
assistance, but I had disappeared lon
before they reached the spot. Many
minutes elapsed before they found me,
and full half-hour afterward before the
physicians, who had been summoned,
and that they made any attempt to re-
suscltate me was due solely to the per-
sistence Of an intimate friend of mine
who had accompanied them.
"Nearly dozen years after the above
experience / became q citizen Of the
West, and commenced opening q new
farm in a sparsely settled country. The
place was about ten miles from the
nearest town, and one pleasant day near
the last of December went to the latter
In light spring wagon to get some sup
plies for Christmas festivities. The day
was so mild that did not even wear an
overcoat. About the time L started
home, which was little after sundown,
it began to grow suddenly cold, and
presently storm almost amounting to
hurricane broke from the north,
bringing with it the temperature
of Nova Zembla. In this region of
marked climatic vicissitudes / never
before or since knew any 80 great. The
mercury fell in an hour to forty degrees
below zero. Under ordinary circum-
stances could easily have made the ride
home in that time, but 1 was going in
the teeth of the wind so that could
make but little over half the usual
speed. 1 suffered severely from the
cold but no more than / had many O
time before, but as'you may imagine was
anxious to get home as quickly as pos
sible. When L had got within couple
of miles of there, L found the weather
growing pleasant again. My ears, that
had stung and smarted with the cold,
no longer troubled me. Ny hands,
though still numb, had firm grip of
the lines, and seated in the bottom of
the wagon with my back and shoulders
resting on the seat L would have been
quite comfortable, except that was 80
drowsy that could scarcely keep awake.
/ comforted myself with the reflection