Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1889-09-27
THREE DAYS IN A COFFIN.
The Grewsome Experience of a Lawyer II
., C.taIaptIc Trance.

The Grewsome Experience of a Lawyer in
Cataleptic Trance.
eft was horrible, horrible, sir-I lay IN
that coffin alive, and just as conscious OF
what was going on around me as am at this
moment. | have always been OF hysterlcal
temperament, and on one grievous occasion
had lain in cataleptic state for tWenty-four
hours This last time l lay for three days
perfectly conscious, as l said before, but 70
all appearances as dead as Caesar"
The speaker was well known attorney of
St. Paul, who related the story of his thrilling
experience with catalepsy conditionally that
his name be withheld from publication.
ut has been said," continued the hero OF
this blood curdling adventure, THAT there
are infallible signs which denote death, and
are unmistakable to the practiced eye OF the
medico deny that such is the case, and no
one has had a better opportunity OF Judging
than have. When | died, or rather when
three of the best known medical men in Bos-
ton asserted that l was dead, | had been for
three days previous to my supposed demise
in q condition of violent hysteria, bordering
almost on insanity, owing to the death OF a
sister whom loved to distraction. At the
expiration of that time l subsidized into the
condition l have previously described. Ny
death was attributed by the learned disciples
of Esculapius to disease of the heart. The
three old fogies held a consultation over me,
and heard them discuss the ACCESSIBILITY of
a post-lnortem examination, there being
slight difference of opinion among them as
to what was the actual cause.
cat this time was lying on board, per-
fcctly rigid and fully realized the fact that
| should be buried alive if l couldn't brace
up and explain matters within the next few
hours l Immediately blessed my mother
and brother for their refusal to allow those
old butchers to go for me with their knives.
That's all that saved me, tell you This
seems a wild story, but just the same it's
true one. Why. | can even remember laugh
ing quietly to myself to think that the Win
dows had been opened all around the room.
It was devilish cold weather, too, but could
not feel the cold much. knew, however,
that those windows had been opened to pre-
vent the decomposition of my i'll used frame
How did get out of the fix? Well, it was
lust by the skin of my teeth. When the un-
dertaker and his fool assistant brought the
coffin and was lifted into it knew at once
that the coffin was too short and just ached
to say so, but couldn't speak word to save
my life was tongue tied hadn't control Of
a muscle. The merest accident in the world
| prevented my being buried alive. l had been
living in the awful condition l have described
for over three days when the beast of an I'M
dertaker came around again to screw up the
coffin.
A tack had been left sticking out from the
tlrapery gracing the interior of the sarcoph-
agus, and the fellow in the coffin business
commenced a series of vicious jabs at it with
a sharp edged screw driver. On one of these
the instrument struck a nail head and, flying
off at tangent, took me on the jaw with
considerable force. The blood spouted forth,
and instantly regained the use of my limbs.
| wanted to knock seven kinds of blue fire
out of the coffin man, and was out of it 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 resur-
rection to defend himself in the least. Now
| you can just bet l am as healthy a man as
| the most of them nowadays, and I've issued
| strict orders that in the event of my death
| am not to be buried until an artery has been
| opened and my decease absolutely proved. ~
| st. Paul Globe.