The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1883-11-21
RISING FROM HER COFFIN.
A YOUNG IADY's NARROW ESCAPE
FROM PREMATURE BURIAL.
saved From n Horrible n ny n
Doctor While the Funeral Service
Was Being Performed

Doctor While the Funeral Service
Was Being Performed
A distinguished physician Of this city,
who has now retired from active prac-
ticc, while travelling in Wisconsin,
stopped for Il night in II small village,
writes Il Washington correspondent: A
friend and former pupil called to see him,
and during the evening mentioned very
singular case which he had been lately
treating. The young lady, his patient,
had died very suddenly three days be-
fore, but after she was prepared for the
grave, and laid in her coffin, she pre-
scntcd such IL li(c-likc appearance that he
was unwilling to have her Inferred. The
family insisted that she was tlrnd: but II
Young gentleman to whom she had been
engaged demonstrated SO decidedly that
the intcrmcnt was postponed, after the
minister and friends had assembled on
the second morning. On the third morn
ing the burial was again deferred; for,
though the body lay perfectly m%otlonlrss
in the caskrt without cvincing any signs
of life, they hcsitatcd to put it in the
ground while it continued to look so
natural. The young physician had used
every means that he knew OF to restore
animation if there WAS life left. or, if
possible, to detect some sign of it.
Nothing winch he had tried had discov-
cred any sign of remaining vitality, and
they had at length determined to delay
the burial no longer. 1t was to be on
the next morning-thc morning of the
fourth day. The young physician re-
uucstrd DR.. - to 60 with him on the
morrow and look ut the body.
"Thc following morning." says DR..
-. Il accompanied my friend TO the
house where the body Of the young lady
lay. When we reached the house the
friends of the family had already arrived,
and the officiating minister had gone
through a part Of the service in the room
where the body lay, II prayer ! think 1t
WAS. and the family had taken their last
farewell of a beautiful girl. When
stepped into the room the undertaken
had the caskct lid in his hands ready to
screw it down. No sooner did ! see the
face in the caskrt than ! felt sure that
life was not extinct. There was not the
f%aintcst pulse that | could detect; but
when | laid my car close upon her breast
| was confident that heard the slightest
heart beat. SO certain was | then that it
was IL case of cataIcpsy that did not
hesitate Il moment to apply the proper
remedies. Imagine, if you can, the scene
when the Young lady uttered suddenly a
piercing scream and rose mp in her coffin.
it was the most awful note of agony that
| hope ever to hear. The oom was filled
with friends, beside the family and
domcstics. Several ladies tainted out
right; some screamed and went into
Mysteries, the servants ran out into the
yard. and | confess, though 1 was expect
ing to sec her revive, my nerves were
so shaken by the suddcnncss of the occur
renee that it was with the greatest diff
cultvI could stand. Her face, too, which a
moment before had worn that sweet smile
of pcaccful sleep, writhcd as she rose upin
the most dreadful contortions. I have
never seen Il face depict ST much terror
and agony. Itsccmed as if all the mental
suffering which she had endured through
those four terrible days and nights found
vent in that one cry and look. In a few
moments her pcnt-up feelings had found
relief. and she then got out of the coffin
and down from the table with very little
assistance.
"By this time the tumult in the room
had in a measure subsidized, and she then
told us what was the most fearful part OF
the whole experience, that she had been
perfectly conscious during the entire time
She had heard all that was said and
knew all that was going Of around her.
She had felt herself being shroudcd and
laid in the coffin, had heard her friends
weeping over her before the coffin lid
should close upon her forever, and
she should surely be buried alive. Mean
while, though she tried her utmost, she
was unable to nov or utter Il sound.
Her friends look upon her as given back
to them from the grave, and indeed, in
the country around, it is reported that
really raised her from the dead, and after
I left they told me that the country
people locked in crowds to see me.
What the young lady's feelings are it is
useless to try to imagine, and what they
were during the four days and nights in
which she lay in the coffin awaiting to be
buried alive, too terrible to contemplate"