The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1879-11-05
ALMOST BURIED ALIVE.
Authentic and thrilling Narratives BY IN
Old Physician.

The lectures which have recently
been delivered. on Living burials," by
q physician of eminence, prove that
such things happen in countries where
rapid interment succeeds death much
more frequently than the generality of
people would deem possible.
We who hold our dead sacred. and
who err, if anything, on the side of
keeping them too long unburied, must
naturally feel a kind of horror
creep over us when, from circumstances,
we are brought to witness with what
haste and want of reverence the last
sad ceremonies are gone through in
some countries where climate renders
speedy interment after decease an abso-
Lutte necessity. I propose to relate
three marvellous escapes from living
burials which happened to d;herert
members of the same family at different
periods. The scene was in Italy; the
facts were related to me by the daugh-
ter of two of the parties concerned, and
1 shall tell the tale as nearly as possible
as she told it to me:
You will scarcely wonder" she said,
at my horror of being buried alive
when I tell you that a peculiar fate
seems to pursue our family, or at least
did pursue it in the last generation.
My father was an only son, and, from
having been born several years after
his parents marriage, was an object of
especial devotion. His mother was I'M.
able to nurse him herself, and a coun-
trywoman was procured from village
some distance from the chateau where
his parents resided, who was not only
well calculated to replace the mother
as nurse, but was of 80 afectionate q
disposition that she seemed to throw
her whole soul into her care for the
well-being of the child, and lavished as
much affection on hin, as did the real
mother. When the age came for wean-
ing him, it was found impossible to &C.
comp]ish it while the nurse remained
with him; and so, after many terrible
scenes and the most heart-breaking
sorrow on her part, she had to go. The
boy throve very well until he was about3
years old, when he was attacked by
some childish malady, and to all appear
ance died.
ut is unnecessary to dwell on the dis
tracted grief of the parents. The moth
er could scarcely be induced to leave
the body, and, even though all life was
extinct, grudged every moment as it
dew toward the time when even what
was left of her darling would have to be
removed forever. (The time that was
allowed by the Government for bodies
to remain unburied was three days.)
The father gave strict orders that the
child's nurse should not be informed of
the death of her foster son until after
the funeral, as he felt convinced she
would at once come to see him, and he
dreaded the effect the sight of her grief
might have on the already broken
hearted wife. However. the order was
il-kept, and on the morning of the
funeral, after the guests had arrived and
were grouped round the coffin taking
their last farewell of the lovely boy, in
rushed the nurse, her hair down, her
dress all torn and travel-stained, her
boots nearly worn off her feet. On
hearing the news, she had started Of
without waiting for extra clothing, with
out word or look to any one, and had
run the whole night in order to be in
time to see her boy. As she entered
the room, she pushed past the servants
and guests, and. on reaching the coffin,