Arizona weekly citizen., 1883-01-21
BURIED ALIVE IN RUSSIA.
The secret Revealed by NewIy-OPrnrd
 ubaVe in Warsaw.


 St Petersburg Cor. Philadelphia Press.
 A most extraordinary case which has gsuOnIsned all the medical profession iu Russia and Poland, has just come from Warsaw. \ short time ago there died in the outskirts of the old capital a young peasant woman who was buried with that haste which characterizes the funerals of the Russian peasants. 4 few days afterward doctors were called to determine the cause of her death, bat none could say positively as to the nature of a disease that had shown no symptoms whatever, and which had brought this young woman to premature and sudden end. She was buried m due course. However, 1t was rumored about the city that her hus- band often ill-treated her, and at her death some people went so far as to say that he was the cause of 1t. These rumors spread more and more until they reached the ears of the authorities, who immediately caused the body to be exhumed. The judicial commission followed the grave-digger to the cemetery, and the latter proceeded to disinter the remains. Having reached 1t a rope was lowered, and, after fixing It firmly around the half-rOtten coffin. the ghastly freight was hoisted once more to the level of the earth. They opened the bier, and, tO their horror and stupefactiOn, discovered not only the woman, but second sharer of this her last resting place, ID the shape of still born child that was lying at her feet. The child had arrived at an entire maturity, and had been born in the tomb, where It had lived for several hours. Thus the tomb of the mother had been both its cradle aLd tomb at tue same time. As Co the mother, 1t was discovered that she had been buried alive when in d comotose state, and when returning Co consciousness had given birth to the child. It was easily seen that the poor woman had suffered terribly, for not only did the drIed-up blood, which was still visible upon the bps, give evidence of the fact, but also her tOngue, pierced by her teeth, and her hands clasped together convulsIvely.
 Burying people alive in Europe has occurred too often of late years, and can only be accounted for by the m attention of doctors, which, Tn this case, should be treated as a criminal offense. The fear of the living of being immured alive has gained such power over the mind that Russians, when on their death-bed, have left legacIes for the foundation and maintenance of nor tuaries in their native city, where sup posed corpses are placed for three days in the hopes that thelr thread of life may not have parted Tue mOrtuary of r reiburg can be quoted as an instance Of these peculiar institutions, which are confined principally to Eastern Europr, where cataleptic. fits are known to be more prevalent than in any other part of the globe.
 In the centre of the cemetery of Frei- burg stands house which, to an observant person, would have every ap- pearance of a small chapel This thought would be suggested through the sight Of tower, which contains a bell; but, on entering this liliputian building, the searcher for knowledge might be astonished at seeing a human form, dead to all appearance. The stiff, rigid body rests upon marble slab, dressed in deaths garments, and the rlDgs, which depend from a wire rope that runs through the ceiling, are attached to AAS uIkNlos n tuAAlAGA lA0HcNtA'AAf by the theory of the apparatus which the genial attendant IS willing to give to all visitors, would explain this some what my ysteriOus position of the dead body. The fingers of the supposed corpse are placed in magnetic steel rings that it tightly. Should the body show any signs of reanimation, the slightest quiver of the nerves of the finger would affect the steel rings, which in their turn communicate with another stronger magnetic current that forces itself on the bell. making it toll, which brings an attendant physician to the rescue. By this means several bodies placed in this mortuary since | 1865 have returned to life. A peasant woman, named Pezoffeki, recently walked from her tomb on the third day after burial.