Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1889-08-09
DEAD OR ALIVE?
,EERIE STORIES ABOUT PREsIA-
TURE BURIALS.
How the Cardinal Thrilled the
French Senate-The Story OF
Ginevra-A Shivery Tale
ola Spectre Guest.


a petition had been presented point
ing out the dangers of hasty interments
and suggesting measures for their proven.
ton. M. de la Gueronniere proposed to
shelve 1t. But the venerable Cardinal
Bonnet, Archbishop of Bordeaux. arose
In support of the petition.
His argument was long and interest
ing. He had himself, he said, while yet
cure, saved several persons from being
buried alive. He had seen man taken
from his coffin and restored to health
He had seen the body of young lady
laid out for dead, the attendants cover
ing her face us he entered, yet allowing
him to observe so much as convinced
him she was not dead, but sleeping.
With loud voice he cried out that he
was come to save her.
'iYou do not see me, perhaps" he
said, "but you hear what I am saying"
And she did hear. His voice reached
her numbcd sensations. She made
mighty effort and woke into life.
"That young GIRL" said the Arch
bishop in the midst of profound silence,
IT'S to-day wife, the mother of children
and the chief happiness of two of the
most distinguished families in Paris"
But the Archbishop had another and
still more impressive story to tell. In
1926 young priest tainted in the pulpit
and was given up for dead He was
measured for the coffin, the funeral bell
was tolled, the Dc Profundis was recited.
Meanwhile the seeming corpse could hear
all that was going on. "You will easily
feel how impressive was the agony of the
living in that situation. At last, amid
the murmurs around him, he distinguished
tue voice of one known to him from
childhood. That voice produced a
marvellous effect and stimulated him to
superhuman effort. OF what followed
need say no more than that the seeming
dead man stood next day in the pulpit
from which he had been taken for dead.
That young priest, gentlemen" and hero
the old mans voice thrilled every listener;
'that young priest is the man who stands
before you to-day-morc than forty years
later-entreating those i'll authority not
merely to vigilantly enforce execution Of
the legal requirements in regard to burials,
but to enact fresh ones that may prevent
the occurrence ofirrcparable misfortunes {"
In spite of official resistance the Senate
voted that the petition should be referred
to the Minister of the Interior. Some of
its notifications of existing laws were
eventually adopted. But the French, like
the English, have always resisted the in
novation of mortuary chambers, such as
the German and other nations have
adopted, in which the dead are retained
for time before intcrment Here me-
chanical appliances are so arranged that
the slightest motion ON the part of the
buried would sound an alarm and sum-
mon an attendant. Since 1928, however,
when the system was adopted, not sim
gle case OF apparent death has been
proved to occur. OF course this negative
evidence cannot be cited rs conclusive
either for or against the system.
History is full of instances of burial
during suspended animation, maay of
which from their grcwsome and startling
character have passed into literature
Duns Scotus, known rs the Subtle, is
said to have been buried while in fit.
in the absence of his servant and OF all
who know that such fits were periodical
with him. When the servant returned
he insisted on opening the vault. The
corpse was found dead then beyond hope,
but bearing all the evidence of terrible
struggle, one hand being bitten of and
half eaten. 1t was no doubt the iindin y
of other corpscs in similar condition
after burial that led to the hidcous
medieval superstition of vampires, which
fed upon human bodies.
A celebrated romance of real life. which
has also found curious coun!erparts more
or less authenticated in all lands and peri
dds, is the Florentinc Story of Gincvra
Married against her inclination in the wear
1400 to Francesca degii Agoanti, the one
of her two lovers who loved her least.
Ginevra was buried alive during trance
which looked like death At midnight
she awollc, and, horror-struck, made her
way out of the vault to her husband S
house. But he, sorrowful for her death
as he was, refused to believe that this pale
revenante crying at his door was aught
else than ghost, and rcpused her with n
hasty benediction. SO did her father; so
did her uncle. Then, nearly dying in good
earnest, she remembered her other and
truer lover, Antonio di Rondineili, and
dragged herself to his doorstep.
He answered her timid knock himself.
and though startled at the ghostly vision,
calmly inquired what the spirit wanted
with him.
Tearing her shroud from her face Gin
cvra exclaimed: 81 am no spirit, An
tonic! am that Gincvra that you once
loved, who was buried yesterday buried
alive and fell swoonins into the wei
coming arms of her delighted lover.
He took her in, warmed fed and com
forted her, and when she had been nurscd
back to health he privately married her.
The next Sunday they appeared together
as man and wife ct the Cathedral. There
was universal Consideration among
Ginevra's friends. An explanation en-
sued, which satisfied all but the lady's
first husband, who insisted that the orig
inal marriage had not been dissolved. The
case was referred to the Bishop, who de-
cided in favor Of Rondinelli, on the un-
scientific but none the less POLITICALLY sat-
hsfying ground that the lady had really
died once and been released from all
former ties. The first husband was even