Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1889-06-20
ALIVE In THE GRAVE.
AN ATTORNEYS HORRIBLE Ex-
PERIENCE AS A CATALEPTIC.
Three Days in a Coffin-Finally
Saved by the Accidental Slip of a
screw-Driver-AM Man Whose Beard
Grew Out After Death.

SIT was horrible, horrible, sir 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
a hysterical temperament, and on one
grievous occasion had lain in q catalep-
tic state for twenty-four hours. This
last time lay for three days, perfectly
conscious, as said before, but to all
appearance as dead as Caesar"
The speaker was well-known young
attorney of St. Paul, who related the
story of his thrilling experience with
catalepsy, conditionally that his name
be withheld from publication.
at has been said, continued the
hero of this blood-curdling adventure,
"that there are infallible signs which de-
note death, and are unmistabable to the
practiced eye of the medico. deny
that such is the case, and no one has a
better opportunity of Judging than have
l. When | died, or rather when three
of the best-known medical men in Bos-
ton had asserted that / was dead, /
had been for three days previous to my
supposed demise in condition of vio-
lent hysteria, bordering almost on in
sanity, owing to the death of a sister
whom loved to distraction. At the
expiration of that time subsidized into
the condition have previously describ-
ed. Ny death was attributed by the
learned disciples Of Hsculapius to dis
ease of the heart.
''The three old fogies held consulta-
ton over me, and / heard them discuss
the ACCESSIBILITY of post-mortom ex-
animation, there being a slight differ
ence of opinion among them as to what
was the actual cause. At this time |
was lying ON a board, perfectly rigid,
and fully realized the fact that should
be buried alive if / could not 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 laughing quietly
to myself to think that the windows had
been opened all around the room. 1t
was very cold weather, too; but could
not feel the cold much. knew, how
ever, that those windows had been
opened to prevent the decomposition of
my ill-used frame. Nor did / get out of
the fixl Well, it was just by the skin
of my teeth. When the undertaken and
his assistant brought the coffin and
was lifted into it, knew at once that
that 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 muscle. The merest ACCT
dent in the world prevented me from
being buried alive. i had been lying in
the awful condition / have described for
over three days, when that beast OF an
undertaken came round again to screw
up the coffin.
A tack had been left sticking out from
the drapery grazing the interior of my
sarcophagus, and the fellow in the coffin
business commenced a series of vicious
jabs at it with sharp-edged screw
driver. On one of these OCCASIONS the
instrument struck nail-head, and fly
ing off at n tangent, took me on the jaw
with considerable force. The blood
spouted forth and / instantly regained
the use of my limbs. / wanted tolnock
seven kinds Of blue fire out of the coffin
men, and was cut 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 am as
healthy q man as the most of them now
adays, 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.
A well-known St. Paul physician
speaks of catalepsy as one of humanity's
ills, which is now receiving more atten-
ton than has ever before been accorded
it. "Catalepsy," he says, "seldom, or
sever, attacks people of sluggish tenn
permanent. 1t is form of hysteria, and
is peculiar to persons of hysterical dis
position. People get some very curious
notions about the length Of time, for
instance, for which person may lie
under six feet of dirt, in state of cata-
lepsy, without death ensuing. I'll tell
died at the Hospital in this city man
about 80 years old. He was one OF
those daylight sleepers, according to his
own statement, and We held the body
four days before theinterment occurred.
OF course the man was shaved before
being buried, and when l saw him in
the coffin his face was as smooth as an
infants. The man was buried in Oak
land Cemetery, and news was sent to
his wife in Chicago, who, by the way,
is now a resident of this city, apprising
her of the in t.
ga few weeks later the lady came here
from Chicago, and not liking the place
where the body lay, she ordered the re-
mains exhumed, The lid was wrenched
off the coffin in the operation, and, by
the great Scott the fellow had raised
beard an inch long since his interment.
The dead mans wife remarked that he
had not been given decent burial, and,
like fool, / assured her that her hus-
band had been clean shaved and buried.
"That settled it. The woman at once
asserted that her husband was buried in
a fit of catalepsy, aud that he must have
been alive for over a week fer his beard
to grow that long Reasoning was use
less. and / believe the lady holds to her