Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-06-08
BURIED IN RANK FLOWERS.

The Unpleasant Grave in Brazil from
Which a Veteran Story Teller Escaped.
81 turned out with my post to-day and
! helped decorate the graves of our brave
boys, but 1 can't say that 1 put much
! heart in the business" said a grizzled
old veteran to a Philadelphia Times re-
porter as he was about to absorb his sixth
glass Of beer. II know | have surprised
! YOU" he continued, noticing the look of
inquiry on the faces of the bystanders.
''but l never see flowers or hear people
talk of decoration that l do not feel quite
knocked out"
1T was just this way" he continued.
as he had his glass reflled, and held it uD
between the light and his eyes: 9Ebefore
the war L was one of a party of adyen-
turers who, hearing of the immense cold
deposits in Brazil, penetrated the heart of
that country. From the outstart we had
a pretty tough time of it, and, to cap the
climax, when we were a dead failure In
our search, and were longing for home
again, we were captured by band of
meddling savages. They treated us well.
but closely guarded us, so as to prevent
escape. After period of about six
months every man but myself ESCAPED
and made for the settlements l tried.
but was recaDtured. / must confess that
| felt blue and down in the mouth, but /
bore 1t and determined to wait patiently
for another chance to get away.
Another six months passed .butstill no
opportunity offered itself, when bright
idea struck me. l persistently refused
food from day to day, but secretly took
just enough to keep a-gOing, so that after
while | looked something like a side
show skeleton. One morning when the
buck who did the feeding business came
to my tent / was stretched out stiff. ap-
parently dead. A big hubbub was raised
and the Indians all thronged in to look at
me, though they kept at a respectful dis
lance and reirained from touching me.
And if you'd believe it, they let me lay
there, too, until next morning, when they
came in a long procession and placed me
on sort of litter and carried me to the
outskirts of the town. A large grave had
been dug, and the cold perspiration began
10 ooze from me at the prospect of being
buried alive.
81 was tenderly laid in the hole. and
there was pause. Then several objects
struck me, and, peeping through the
crack OF my eyelids, was surprised to
ind that they were flowers, of the fra
grant, luxuriant kind peculiar to the
country. The flowers continued to come.
until perfect shower fell. The sensation
was pleasant to the olfactory nerves at
first, buG after was completely covered
up it got sort o. disagreeable, inasmuch
as l got sniff of the South American
Jim Crow plant, the simple odor Of which
is sufficient to kill one. When the grave
was completely filed / was in hopes that
the gang would leave the place and
allow me to escape. But no such luck.
Two bucks were stationed there as a sort
Of guard of honor. At night these were
and so the blamed watch over
me was kept up for whole week. When /
| did crawl out Of that flower bed you can
bet looked like sure-enough ghost. 1t
took me a month to get to the settlements,
and ever since that time the very sight Of /
flowers makes me feel powerfully unwell, I
as you can judge"