Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-05-04
Frightfal Situation.
A Young Woman Barely Es
cape,s Burial Alive.
HER HORRIBLE MENTAL TORTURE

Conscious All the Time. She Knows She
Has Been Pronounced Dead, Sees the
Funeral Preparations Going on, Tries In
Vain to Move or Scream, and Thinks She
Has Done So, but That Her Appeal Is
Ignored.
ST. LOUIS, May Am afternoon paper
prints sensational story of remarkable
case of catalepsy reported from South St
Louis, names being suppressed for the al
legged reason that the victim is so weak the
excitement certain to be aroused by a knowl-
edge Of her identity and consequent calls by
curious neighbors would be fatal The story
is to the effect that young married woman
% years of age was in her coffin and about to
be taken out for burial when her husband
saw her arm move He ordered her to be
taken out of the coffin at once and called in
two physicians, who, after an examination
pronounced life not extinct and began a
process OF resuscitation. Their efforts were
successful and the woman was in short
time brought back to consciousness. This
story was obtained from her sister, a young
married woman, who lives at 72i South
Fourth street The sister related the fol
lowing facts in connection with the strange
case:
The Patient Pronounced Dead
Last Monday my sister, who bad been
sick for but a few days, died as far as we
could see, and the attending physician pro-
nounced her dead He husband proceeded to
make arrangements for the funeral A
coffin was secured and when the supposed
corpse was dressed it was laid in the coffin.
Theintention was to have the funeral Tuesday
afternoon. Friends of the family visited the
house and mourned over the body from
which the spirit had apparently departed.
Saved by Her Boys Voice.
Tuesday afternoon, a short time before
the closing of the coffin was TO have taken
place, my brother-in-law was standing beside
the bier looking at the face of his wife, when
his little boy came into the room and said, II
want to look at mamma" Just then the
arm Of my sister moved. Her husband saw
it and was naturally very much startled He
informed those in the room in an excited
manner of what he had seen and my sister
was at once taken from the coffin and placed
on bed and two physicians summoned.
Evidence OF Respiration.
"They placed glass in front of my sisters
face, and could at once perceive the signs Of
breath upon it. They then began to work
with her, and after a short while more pos
tive signs of life began to appear. She kept
breathing better all the time, and finally she
became conscious
FriGhtful Mestal Torture.
"The most terrible affair about it all is that
she knew perfectly everything that was 60
ing on around her When she was being
dressed for bur ial she realized what was be-
ing done, and tried her bsst to show signs of
life, but could not do So When she was
placed in the coffin an awful feeling of what
was to be her doom came over her, and she
says she tried TO scream, and thought she sue
ceeded, but of course she did not. When she
came to and related to US an account Of the
mental torture she had experienced during
the time her trance lasted she said: Where
were you all when ! soreamedf We told
her that she had not screamed or We surely
would have heard her.
She Tried to Scream
well, she said, L tried to scream often
and thought that once had succeeded in ut
tering a Shrek When shs was lying in the
coffin she tried to move but failed until her
little child came running into the room and
asked to look at her. Then her arm cramped
and her husband, who was standing by the
coffin, fortunately happened TO see it Had
he not she would certainly have been buried