Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-08-01
BURIED ALIVE.
STORIES TOLD OF LIVING PEOPLE
BEING PUT IN TIE GRAVE.

| Tie Number OF Well Authenticated Cases
Il sman-why Superficial Observer
Arc Likely to Be Mistaken-soms
Natural Explanations.
To be buried while only apparently dead
and to come back to life in a coffin four feet
under earth is, OF course dreadful thing,
and the fear Of people to meet this terrible
fate has at all times been proportionately
strong 1t has resulted In all kinds of de-
signs and plans to enable persons in case Of
premature burial to inform the living world
of the horrible mistake. II we inquire into
the matter little more closely. however,
| we will find that such fear is unreasonable
In fact our readers will be surprised to near
us ask:
Rave people ever been buried aive3
True, We cannot absolutely deny such 90
currences, for several cases have been re-
ported under competent medical supervision,
but the number of well authenticated cases
Is really SO small that we must look upon
them as thing extremely rare In fact. it
would be safer to take the risk Of meeting
this accident for every person living upon
The globe this minute than to get on train
for only one hour In the face Of these facts
" OAAO AAAooi nA1J PuI eA!o 4uoSSioo.
Why Is it that such cases ere reported or
believed to have taken place so ofteni
The answer to this is easy. People who do
not know the wonderful working Of the sys-
TEN are liable to misinterpret certain rare
| and abnormal manifestations. They do not
I remember that every rule has its exceptions,
even as applied to the human organism, in
Short they do not fully understand the nat
: M Nfd aof
found it with life We will be little less
abstract to illustrate. We often hear the
remark: II don't believe such and such
person Is dead Just remember how red his
cheeks were, even up to the day of his
burial" True. the characteristic appearance
of the dead is that waxy and pale aspect
known to everybody However the mere
manner of dying may determine an excep-
ton to this rule So the face presents
blush coloration- where death has been the
result OF a disturbance in the functions of
the lungs tor, to be more exact, of the lesser
circulation, Here we can enumerate all
cases OF banging. drowning. sutfocation, coal
gas, poisoning, etc.
OTHER EXCEPTIONAn
A still more striking but also rare excep-
ton, occurs in people with habitually red
faces. In their case bright arterlal hue
may remain up to the time OF burial,
although death may be absolute in every
sense People also believe that a hand held
up against light denotes life as long as the
margin shows q reddish, semi transparent
aspect While this test is reliable one, it
does not hold true in people dead with
drcPsy Here the transparency will be pre-
served in spite of death. Another sign
formerly employed by medical men as in
fallibls has spread among the public 1t is
known that the application of mustard to
the skin causes redness and blisters in the
living body We can therefore always con-
clude as to the persistence of life whenever
such an application reacts Unfortunately,
however. the plaster might not show any re-
suits when life is not yet extinct and recovery
is still possible This has been observed in
cases of extreme intoxication by means Of
narcotics. such as morphine The fact that
pricklng Of the skin is followed by the ap-
pearance Of drop of blood is often cited as
q proof for the existence Of life Now,
everybody knows that such is possible also
some limited time after death, although the
manner OF appearing and the shape and
color Of the drop differ from that drawn
from living body The peculiar signs men
toned at the beginning of this article and
usually considered SO conclusive, also find
more natural explanations than the absurd
theory of apparent death.
A body may change its original position
while being lowered into the grave. Biting
in the fingers and scratches in the face may
be due to rats lnfesting the grave yards;
noises referred to a coffin are usually the re-
suit OF an over excited inacinatiOu In fact
there is no sense moro liable to deception
than addition, especially when we want to
hear. Everybody remembers. perhaps how
often he thought he heard the train arrive
when anxiously waiting for it.