Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1889-05-10
Saved From The Tomb
A Young st. Louis Woman Narrowly
Escapes Being Buried Alive.
4 Startling Story,

Sr. LGvIs, Mo.-Au afternoon paper
| prints sensational story of remarka-
| BILE case of catalepsy reported from South
| st. Louis, the name being suppressed for
! the alleged reason that the victim is so
weak that the excitement certain to be
aroused by knowledge OF her identity
and consequent calls by curious neigh
| Dor. would be fatal. The story is to the
| effect that Young married woman, 25
! years of age was in her coffiu and about
| to be taken out for burial, when her hus
| band saw her arm move, ordered her to
| be taken out of the coffiu at once, called
IN two physici ans, VINO, after an examlna-
| tlon, pronounced life not extinct, and be-
gan process of resu5citation. Their eff
forts we're successful, and the woman
was in short time brought back to con
sciousness. This story was Obtained from
her sister, young married woman, who
lives at 72l South Fourth street. The
sister related the following fac in con-
nection with the strange case:
"Last Monday my sister, who had been
sick but a few days, died, as far as We
could see, and the attending physician
PRONOUNCED HER DEAD,
and her husband proceeded to make ar
IduSClllSulS IOE INuGlt II Cullu WIS
secured, and when the supposed corpse
WAS dressed it was laid in the cuffia. The
intention was to have the funeral Tues
day afternoon. Friends of the family
visited the house, and mourned over the
body from which the spirit had, as all be-
lieved, de parted. On 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 look
ing on the face of his wife, when his little
boy came into the court and said: 81 want
to look at mamma" Just then the arm
of my sis er moved. Her husband saw it
and was naturally very much startled. He
Informed those in the room in an excited
manner of what ne had seen, and my sis
ter was at onoe taken from the coffin and
placed on bed and two physicians sum
moned.
"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 short
while more positive signs of life began to
appear. She kept breathing better all
the time, al d finally she became conscious.
THE MOST TERRIBLE AFFAIR
about il all is that she knew perfectly
everything that was gong on around her.
When she was being dressed for burial
she realized what was being done, and
tried her best to show signs of life, but
could not do SO. When she was placed
10 the coffin All awful feeling of what was
to be her doom came over her, and she
says she tried to scream and thought that
she succeeded, but of course she did not.
"When she came to sne realized to as
th.ar fol ha hoI
during the time her trance lasted. She
said:
Where were you all when | scream
ed?'
''We told her that she had not scream
ed or we surely gould have heard her.
'Well,' she eaid, Il surely tried to
scream often, and thought that once
had succee ded in nttering shriek.'
"When she was lying in the coffin she
tried to move, but failed until her little
child came running Into the room and
asked to see her. Then her arm cramped,
and her husband, who was standing by
the cotfiu, fortunately happened to see it,
Had he not, she would certainly have been
buried aiive."
The story was further corroborated by
A. Hartwig, grocery keeper at No. S27
South Fourth street, who said ne saw The
girl who told the story, dressed in black
and crying, going by his store Monday,
and when his wife asked her what the
matter was, she said her sister was dead
and she was going to the funeral. She
afterwards told them the story OF her
sister being Brought back to life. Ali
efforts to ascertain the name of the wo-
man who came SO near being buried alive
or the names of the physicians IN attend
ance have thus far failed.