The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1879-10-28
Tl,oj"Tolycrlor siicnc5e."
Within the last half century Of more

gossips have delighted In telling slrlling
stories Of the Parsi dead occasionally return
ing In their own bodies and flesh among the
living after their last remains Ind been con-
signed to the Towers of Silence. An in
stance is related in which male member
| of an old Parsi family, known in Bombay
as the Dhtnna Patill family, rcapDcarcd
before female member of 1t several wears
after his death and claimed her as his own
sister. Not many months ago complaints
were made in the local Guiarati journals of
a corpse-bcarer who was suspected Of hay-
ing with Il large iron shovel like those kept
in the Towers of Silence, Drained n man
who, having come to life some i.uurs after
being laid in the Tower, wns seen setting
up on the stone slab whercon his dead body
had been placed. 1t was stated that had
not the man been killed mercilessly he
might have scaled the Tower wall and, cs-
Gaping with his life, might havo been re-
stored to his family and friends. Disguise
is said to he n necessary prceaution for per-
sons 'conle from the dead" for a dcop
rooted superstition associates their presence
'nnong the living with sure sign of an i'm
pending public calamity or an epidemic.
Such stories Of visits from tho dead do not,
however, find general crodence among the
Farsi Of Bombay. In the Mofussil towns
where the walls Of the Towers of Silence
arc low and therefore easily scaled, where
the towers themselves arc situated at con
siderable distances from the habitation of
men and favor the escape of any one who
might come to life after being laid among,
the dead, old gossips find free scope for
their tongues in the narration oiIstorics sim
liar to those mentioned above. We now
hear of a case the particulars of which
might be sufficient for writer of the "son-
sational school" to weave a chapter of
blood-curdling romance. Eleven years ago
Shapurjcc Cahanjeebho was wcll-to-do
resident Of Dchcgaum, a village situated at
O short distance from Gandcvi a faithful,
obedent wife managed his household af-
fairs. and the seven tenor Of their ways"
was cnlivcncd by the, presence of two prom
ising sons. In the course of time the sons
were bctrothcd and married, and their circle
Of relations, widcncd. Willie on a visit to
Gandevi on business, Shapurjcc was attack
cd with fever, and died suddenly after an
illness Of two days, His wife ana relations
were present at his deatllbed, the proper
religious ceremonies were hurricdly gone
through, and his last remains were in tho
manner of Zoroastrians, consigned to I,
Tower Of Silence His relations, tmourncd
their loss siand went to their own, village.
Some hours after being laid in the, Tower,
Shapurjccis said to have recovered from a
comatose state. He saw the awfulposition
assigned him among the dead bones of his
ancestors Being man of ready resources,
he looked through a small hole usually kept
in the wall of Tower Of Silence and saw
soliic village people passing at a distance
lie raised q cry of distress, which drew the
men nearer to him. Understanding what
he said, they assisted him In scaling tho
wal Is of the Tower They went their way
and connivcd at his escape nom on awful
doom. He procured disguise and wand
cred from village to village as though pur-
sued by q terrible fcc. BY turns he became
Il beggar, q hakia,', D. c., a quack. Wan.
dcripg far and wide, lie has at present turn
cd up in Bombay in the disguise, of q bair-
aghee, !. G., a religious bcggar, and dis
penses native drugs and nostrun,s.. Hc has
recognized, or'pretends to recognise, certain
Parsi residing at Mazgaon, and claims
kinship with them. His family and rcla-
tions at Delegaum have been 'apprised Of
his reappcaiaiice In the land of the living,
| and are probably on their way;1to to, Bombay
in the hope Of agaiii greeting one along lost
and deeply lmoGrhtd. z Truth:ahd falscilood
will soon be ,seen-,in their own colors -
1 ? T. :.