St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-11-12
LIVED A DUAL LIFE.
The Strange Story. Of a Man Who Was
Buried Alive.
HE IS LEFT FOR DEAD
And Suffers Fearful Agonies During a
Trance Which Lasted Six
Days.

FAVOR OF the sentiment. and have al
ways considered that the more variety
one gets to break in upon the ordinary
humdrum round of everyday life, the
more eXhilarating is the aspect which
mundane affairs assume. [ like to
meet with novel adventures, pro-
vided, though, they are not too
startlingly sensational, such as
one which befell me in New
York in 1866. 1t was recalled to my
mind the other day by my reading in a
paper an account of woman who laid
in trance two days and came very
near being buried alive. l have in my
scrap-book a clipping from the New
to the finding of the body of an unknown
adds that the corpse was lying at the
morgue awaiting Identification. The
body referred to was none other than
my own. | was the dead man.
In the year 1865 / left Australia,
where / had been mining with fair sue
cess for a number of years. | had ac-
cumulated 100000, and never having
heard of Horace Greeley's advice, I
Travelled east instead of West and came
to the United States. From San Fran
cisco l went to New York. | had
habit Of carrying about $1,000 on my
person all the time, and was not a bit
careful to refrain from jingling it. One
day l met man on Broadway who
who hailed me as a friend, saying he
had met me in Australia. Being some
what lonesome, [ entered into a
friendly conversation with him. AS it
was near evening l proposed going to
dinner, and we went to restaurant.
He was very entertaining talker, and
we had quite jolly time.
A DROWSY FEELING
AS we went on the street l began to
feel a very drowsy feeling coming over
me. | could not shake it off. My friend
proposed that we go and sit down some
where. He supported me with his arm.
All that l can remember next was being
taken somewhere in hack. From what
l could learn afterward he must have
taken me to a lonely spot and robbed
me of everything had, and not content
with robbery he must have tried to add
murder to his crime. Ihave three scars
on my head to this day where he struck
me with some kind of bludgeOn.
When came to my senses | heard
strange voice saying: 'Well, he's
dead" / tried to open my eyes and get
a look at the speaker. but my eye-lidS
remained fast closed, and the muscles
controlling them refused tOwork. Then
l felt warm pressure on my left wrist
as it some one was feeling my pulse,
and in another visit harsh voice said:
eyes, there's not sign of life" Feel
ing sure that was the party referred
to tried to sit up, for was lying in a
horizontal position, and remark as
forcibly as could that 1 was not a
dead person by any means. But my
jaws refused to act, and as for assum-
ing an upright attitude, just might as
we'll have attempted to jump forty
those famous boots which the giants
were wont to possess in the days of
Tim Pippin" and ''Jack o. the Bean
Stalk" / could not move, speak or
see.
TAKEN TO THE MORGUE.
The last speaker suggested that /
should be taken to the morgue. real
lied that l was i'll some hospital, to
which had been carried. The persons
around me were evidently doctors, who
had, after an examination, decided that
| was dead. Oh, if 1 could make but
one struggle or convulSive movement
to show that was not corpse. | could
not, though. The horrible truth was
forced upon me. was in that trance-like
condition of which [ had often heard. |
would be buried alive. The thought
was agonizing. | held control over all
my faculties. but had not the power to
move. Thrill after thrill of horror went
through my cold body as | was being
laid out at the Morgue. When laid on
the marble slab to be gazed at by the
public, became aware of another
was | able to understand what was
said and done around me, but [
could also see and place myself,
as it were. beyond myself. l could
see through wall. | could stand be-
side persons hundreds of miles away.
was in Australia in my OLD .haunts. |
felt that l was spirit, and could float
through space like butterfly, yet
could not tear myself from my con-
sciouS body. [ tried to impress my
presence upon others so that might
tell them of my predicament. l ell
deav0red to make myself visible in
spirit form. Both effects were in vain.
My spirit power was limited.
After about three days / felt myself
being placed In coffin, and heard one
of the morgue officers remark that was
to be buried in the POtter'S field. Then
l had not been identified. | remember
making almost superhuman effort to
shout or move ere was closed up in
the coffin. / can not describe the awful
pangs of agony l suffered as the wagon
bearing my coffin rumbled over the
stones of the street to the cemetery.
BURIED ALIVE
Thay yypra If IL uoc poccih1o ipfonci
fed when the coffin was thrown into
hole and the clods of earth were tossed
in. Each thump against the box
sounded like cannon discharge. Then
i'll spirit l stood beside the grave-dig-
gers and watched them cover my body
up, hiding it from the world forever.
At last they left me. Queer fancies
began to Cypress me. | no longer
felt the horror of my situation so
acutely. The awful silence seemed
broken at intervals by low, weird
sounds. "Those are the worms of the
earth crawling" said strange voice in
my ear. They are coming to fresh
feast. Soon the worms ceased to
crawl, and the oppressive silence was
unbrOken again. In spirit | then wan
dered around the cemetery and read the
numbers on the slabs that marked the
rows of pauper graves. firing of this,
1 laid in my coffin and listened again to
the rustling sound which, l had been
told, was the crawling of the worms. [
wondered if they would reach me
soon and begin to feast upon my
flesh. Each moment seemed an
hour OF time. l began to wonder again
as to what would be the end of it all.
Would come to my senses and be suf-
located for want of air to breathe. or
would | lay there forever? Might it
not really be death? Might not the
earth be filled with millions of con-
scious colpses awaiting the resurrection
morn? Such thoughts controlled me
until night came. 1t must have been
nearly midnight when my spirit was
aware of two men taki nu the aarth from