The Columbus journal., 1882-09-27

move at that moment, bat it was no use;
| couldn't even as much as wink. My
body must have been cold, to give the
idea of death, but L did not feel the cold,
except in the region of my spine. My
supposed dead body was covered with a
sheet and placed in the middle OF the
bed. Ny brother then locked up the
house and went out. Now, what hap
pened almost Immediately afterward is
SO very strange and incredible that !
must ask you to believe it simply on my
word alone, because l would lot insult
YOUR intelligence by such a %stupendous
statement unless it We're true. l lay
there thinking of the awful agony /
would endure should they bury me
alive. 1 seemed to live a lifetime, and
the mental torture was the most terrible
you can imagine. My brother had been
gone about ten minutes, l should judge,
when suddenly [ felt a ley sensation.
MY back seemed as though it was being
pricked by hundreds of needles, and !
felt a warmth creeping down my back
bone. This warmth extended gradually
to other parts of the body, and invOlun-
tariiy | gave a great sigh. That simple
action brought back the suspended
functions of life, and the next instant |
had thrown the sheet off and was on my
feet. | was still weak, and sat down in
a chair to think. Then l knelt down
and offered up a prayer of thankful
ness. These feelings were now succeed
ed by the ~jolliest humor imaginable. l
felt so good that l could hardly restrain
myself from opening the window and
shouting for joy, but l restrained my
self and sat still. Then it occurred to
me that it would be a harmless joke to
surprise my brother, the doctor, and the
world in general by suddenly rising out
of the coffin, if l could maintain my
equanimity long enough for them to put
me in it. The more 1 thought of the
scheme the more l liked it, and actually
laughed aloud as I imagined the horror
stricken countenances of the people at
seeing a dead man rise up and speak.
MY brother might return at any mo-
ment, SO to carry out the plan success
fully l lay down again and had the
sheet ready to draw over my face the
moment l heard him come in. | sup
pose I remained in that position for
twenty minutes or more, when the front
door opened and shut, and | heard foot
steps ascending the stairs. | waited
until he had nearly reached the
top and then attempted to draw up the
sheet, which covered me to the waist.
Great heavens! Icould not move a fin
ger. Like a flash that same old chilly
feeling came upon me, and | was, to all
intents and purposes a dead man again.
My CHASTITY joke nearly resulted in q
horrible fate. My brother, the moment
he entered the room, went to a closet
and took out a Bible. when he sees
the disarranged Sheet l thought, he
will suspect something, and take means
to awaken me- but he didn't seem to
notice anything, but covered my face
again, and then, sitting down, began to
read. Ii the agony before my revival
was horrible, this was superlative. My
brain seemed on fire from the intensity
of thinking. At five O'Clock in the af-
ternoon the dOor-bell rang, and my
brother answered it. My horror was
complete when | heard my brother say:
Il want the funeral to take place in the
morning, so it will not be necessary to
put him in ice, although the weather is
Just be kind enough to have
everything arranged tonight Then
he went down stairs, and the undertaken
brought up a plain walnut coffin. l was
washed, dressed and placed in the coffin
without being able to ever twitch an
in protest. | shall never forget
that night. 1t was an eternity. l heard
the State house clock strike the mid
night hour, and all the weird stories about
ghosts and the dead chased through
my almost frantic brain. 1t would fill
a volume to tell how | suffered. On the
morning at n o'clock my
brother and a few friends were assem-
bled in the front downstairs room. l
was in the coffin upstairs, when again
did that feeling come owe me as on the
day before. Again 1 sighed and came
back again to life, just as my brother
the room. He seemed to take
in the situation at a glance, and, closing
the door after him, locked it. Of course
he embraced me, and then, in his eccen-
trio way, went out and told my half
dozen shoemaker friends that there
would be no funeral, that l was not
dead, and that he had summoned them
merely to test their friendship. Know
ing his oddities the men believed him
and went away. The undertaken was
sent for, and the doctor. While they
were not pledged to secrecy, it was gen.
orally understood that nothing was to be
said, for my brothers sake. who detests
publicity in any form, so if you insist
upon saying anything in the paper stick
away in some corner" DIR. Cum
.ingS corrOborated the strange story
and the undertaken, while he re-
to talk about it at all, would not
deny it directly. The strangest part of
the whole affair is the fact that it has
never been brought to light before
-PhiinIe4p hia Cor. NJ. Y. NeWs.