Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1882-02-03
Dead.Alive Man in Hagerstown.


A correspondent of the Baltimore
Gazette, writing from Hagerstown, Md,
under date of January 21st, relates the
following singular circumstance
An incident is related in tho expert
ence Of u clergyman hero which sug-
gests strongly some of the wierd sketches
Of Poe. The only difference is that this
is true, plain recital of what actually
occurred. Amongst the flock of the
minister referred to was family OF
foreigners, and the father of the family
was stricken with fatal illness. One
night the pastor received message
summoning him Immediately to the bed
side Of the sick man, the messenger
stating that ''he was dying" Some
time elapsed before the arrival at the
scene, where the attending physician
was found surrounded by the sobbing
and shrieking family, To his great re.
greet the doctor informed the minister
that he was too late; that the sufferer
had died fifteen or twenty minutes pre-
viously And. in fact, there on the bed
lay the stark and rigid form Of the de-
parted, the lower jaw fallen, the ashy
pallor of death on the face. and the
body stffened with the rigor mortis.
With the demonstrativeness of their ma
ton the family gave full sway to their
feelings, making no effort at sclf-con-
toll. A son, in particular, was more
demonstrative and inconsolablo than any
of the rest. He called on his father,
begged him to come back, and with diff
fcuty could be kept away from the
body Hoping to comfort the grief
stricken family by spiritual consolation
and sympathetic conversation, the clergy
man remained on the scene until near 2
o'clock in the morning. At this time,
when the pastor was thinking of leaving.
the son, who seemed to take the death so
much to heart, was seized with another
paroxysm of grief more violent than
any preceding it. He tore himself from
those who sought to restrain him. threw
himself on tho body of his father, en-
braced him, called him, bathed the cold
face with tears, shrieking that he could
not let him go; that he must say one
werd, look at him just once more that
he must net leave him without Just one
more word and one more look As if
the agonized voice had penetrated the
silence of the other world and had reached
the "dull, cold ear of death, +" the lips of
the father moved, the eyes opened and
cast sad, reproachful look on the weep
ing son, and in the well-known voice
came distinctly these words: "Oh why
did you bring me back p AS soon as
the awe-stricken group could regain
presence CT mind, after this appalling
scene, they Immediately administered
restorativos to the patient, when the
minister left him. very weak but still
alive. lIe was sent for by the father the
next day, who gave him an account of
his death Gas he evidently believed il
had been) and his experience TO the
time when he was apparently recalled to
life. He said when died first felt
a sinking, going sensation, knew every
thing going on in the room. but / could
not speak or move my lips-then all
was blank. The next thing | remem-
Der was being in dense darkness, SEEM
ingly in a tunnel, through which was
being pushed there seemed to be two
forms, one on each side, pushing INC
along through the tunnel and appeared
IN ,nova no IL I uaa Hoatinu ~<a...L;no,