Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1877-01-24
NEAR UNTO DEATH.
Man Who Knows How 1t Feels to be
Drowned and Frozen TO Death.

Drowned and Frozen TO Death.
From the st. Louis Republican.
A Republican reporter, q day Or two
ago, CHANGED to listen to an account Of
two occurrences in the history Of a
well-known St. Louisian, of such q na-
ture as to be deemed worthy of repro.
ductlon. The story is here given as
nearly rs possible in the words of the
narrator, and strikingly illustrates the
truth of statements often made regard
ing the sensations experienced when in
mortal peril of certain kinds:
My experience has been q remark
able one. Twice / have suffered death
and still | live. [ mean that twice l
have gone through all that constitutes
death, except the actual extinction of
the vital spark. Both times I was con-
sidered dead, and so pronounced by
medical experts, and both times [
passed and remained for some time be-
yond the point of sensibility. The first
time was by drowning and the second
by freezing. The sensations of both in
stances are as fresh and vivid in my
memory as they were when the events
happened, years ago. was crossing q
bridge over wide, but shallow stream,
In lonely place, and accidentally fell
OFT. When | say shallow, I mean for
such wide body Of water. 1t was over
my head by two Or three feet. I saw
nobody near me, aDe could not swim q
stroke. [ knew how deep the water
WIS, and gave myself up for lost. The
quickness Of the sense when sudden
death seems impending has frequently
been noted, but still, without expert
ence, no one can realize it. 1t is IS if
ones whole life were spread out in
panorama before him, every portion of
which was visible at once. Even mi
mute details of things long forgotten,
and which when they happened were
SO triiing that they apparently made
no impr ession on the memory, stand
out in sharp and bold outlines. Ire
membered, for instance, games of mar
bles played When | was a boy, and q
futile attempt | once made to trans
mute a commoney" into "white
alley" by greasing it with lard, wrap
ping it in rag, and roasting it in the
fire. 1 remember how the marble
burst in the operation, and how piece
of it struck and cut the cheek of the
boy who had beguiled me into the ex-
pertinent, and the satisfaction [ expe-
rienced at the retributive justice. 1t
seemed as if everything l had ever
done, suffered or thought was present
ed to my memory at single flash.
Then / struck the water, when a
sound, which l have since learned to
liken to the roar Of Niagara, burst on
my ears, and stunned me with it's over
whelming volume. [ remember a
brief instant of struggling and clutch
ing, and then sense of sinking-sink-
ing-until I had reached the depth of
thousands Of fathoms. [ neither suf-
fered pain nor felt alarm, but had
vague feeling of being irresistibly
borne to some catastrophe, the climax
to which would be terrible. Suddenly
l found myself possessed of the power
of floating or waiting myself along by
mere volition. With delicious feel
ing of languid Incidence suffered my
self to float about-not in water, but IN
air-skimming over the surface of the
ground in whatever direction [ choose,
hlther and thither, as q hayward fancy
led, I was conscious that it was new
power, and 1 exulted in its possession
and reasoned on its nature. [ found
that my body was as lig bit as the air in
which it moved, and imagined that a
thistle down would feel as did, if pos
sessed of consciousness. Then I was
in the water again, and everything
speedily changed to green, then to vio-
Lot 70 49,
then all was blank.
AS I subsequently learned, some
men in skif half mile away had
seen nae fall into the water and hur-
ried to my assistance, but I had disap-
peared before they reached the spot.
Many minutes elapsed before they
found me, and full half an hour after
wards before the physicians who had
been summoned arrived. They pro-
nounced me dead, and that they made
any attempt to resuscitate me was due
solely to the persistence 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 new
farm in sparsely settled country.
The place was about ten miles from
the nearest town, and one pleasant day
near the last of December I went to the
latter in a light spring wagon to get
some supplies 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
shutdown, it began to grow suddenly
cold, and presently storm almost
amounting to hurricane, broke from
the north bringing with it the tempera-
ture of Nova Zembla. In this region
of marked climatic vicissitudes I never
before or since knew any so great. The
mercury fell in an hour to 40 degrees
below zero. Under ordinary circum-
stances I could easily have made the
ride home in that time, but was going
IN the teeth of the wind, so that l
could make but little over half the
usual speed. I suffered severely from
the cold, but not more than / had many
time before and have many time
since, but, as you. may imagine, was
anxious to get home as quickly as pos
| 9ihlo Who,, bod oo+ xu;+b;r q