Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1889-07-25
Three Days Spent in a coffin,

Not long ago, Mr.. Bishop, the mind
reader, was, it is alleged, butchered in
New York, BY q number of doctors. He
had a sinking spell, or laid in q cataleptio
state short time, as report goes, was
reported dead, and then carved up, so to
speak.
Very likely the folio wing Is much ike
what Mr.. Bishop would have told, had he
not been chopped up:
1T was horrible, horrible, sir--I Icy in
that coffin alive, and just as conscious of
what was going on around ne az | am at
this moment. have AWAY been of q
hysterical temperament, and on one
grevious occasion mad lain Ia eata-
eptic state for twenty -four hours. This
last time | lay for three days perfectly
conscious, as | said before, ou % ali ap-
pearauoes as dead as C@yar."
The speaker was we'll known attorney
of ST. Paul, says the Globe, who related
the story of his thrilling experience with
oatalepsy conditionally thai MS name be
withheld from publication.
1T ha- been said, continued IN hero of
this blood curdling adventure, "thet there
are iBfallible signs which note death
and are unmistakabie TO the pIgclced
eye of the medioo. l DENY that such is
the case and no one has had better OPP
por'unity of judging than l have. When
| died, or rather when three of the best
known medical men in Boston asserted
that | was dead, l had been three days
previous to my supposed demise in a
condition of violent hysteria, bordering
almost on insanity, owing to the death of
sister whom flowed to distraction. At
the expiration Of that time l subsidized
into the condition have previously des-
crioed My death was attributed by the
learned dioiples of Esau,apius to
disease of the heart. The three old
fogies held consultation over me and
heard them discuss the advisability of
a pOstmortem examination, there being
a slight difference of opinion among
them a. to what was the actual cause. At
this time was lying on board per-
fectly rigid, and fully realized the fact
that l should be buried alive il | couldn't
bcace up and explain matters within the
next few hours. I imme diately blessed
my mother and brothers for their refusal
to allow those old butchers TO go for me
with their knives. That's ali that saved
me, tell you. This seems a wild story,
but Just the same it's true one Why, l
can even remember laughing quietly to
myself 20 think that the windOws had
been opened all around the room. It was
uevilish cold too, but could not feel the
cold much, knew, however, that those
windows had been opened to prevent the
decomp position of my ill-used frame. How
did | get out of the ixS Well il was just
by the skin of my teeth. When the
undertaken and mis- fool assistant brought
the coffin, and / WIS lifted into it, knew
at once that the coffin was too short and
just ached TO say so, BIT | couldn't speak
word to save my life. | was tongue
tied; hadn't control of q muscle. The
merest accident in the world would pre-
vent my being buried alive. l had been
lying in the awful condition I have des-
cribed for over 5hres days when the
beast of On undertaken came around
again to screw Up the cofiin. A tack had
been left sticking out from the drapery
grazing the interior of the sgroophagus,
and the fellow in the coffin business com
menced a series of vicious Abs at it with
a sharp edged sorewdriver. Ga
one of these the instrument struck nail
head, and, flying of at a tangent took
me on the Jaw with considerable force.
The blood spouted forth and / instantly
regbined the use of my limbs. l wanted
TO knock seven kinds OF blue fire out Of
the coffin man, and was out Of that in no
time. The undertaken skipped, but put
it all over his assistant, | am ashamed to
say, for the man was TOO Mortified at my
resurrection to defend himself in the
least. Now you can just bet l am as
healthy a man as the most of them nova
days. and I've issued strict orders that in
the event of my death l am not to be
buried until an artery has been opened
aud my decease absolutely proved"