Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1889-07-19
A PAIR OF EERIE TALES.
HIGHLY SENSATIONAL SEQUELS TO
PREMATURE BURlALS.


Prominent Parts-True Story of Ginevra.
Her True Lover Got Her At Last.
In 1866 most dramatic scene occurred in
the French senate-a scene in real life that
would have been voted improbable on the
stage.
A petition had been presented pointing out
the dangers of hasty interments and sugges-
ting measures for their prevention. M. de la
Gueronniere proposed to shelve it. But the
venerable Cardinal Bonnet, archbishop OF
Bordeaux, arose in support of the petition.
THE ARCHBISHoPS TESTIMONY.
His argument was long and interesting.
He had himself, he said while yet cure,
saved several persons from being buried
alive. He had seen a man taken from his
coffin and restored to health. He had seen
the body of young lady laid out for dead,
the attendants covering her face as he en-
tered, yet allowing him to observe SO much
as convinced him she was not dead, but Sleep
ing With a loud voice he cried out that he
was come to save her.
'You do not see me, perhaps, esaid, "but
you hear what l am saying"
And she did hear. His voice reached her
numbed sensations. She made mighty
effort and woke into life.
''That young girl" said the archbishop in
the midst of profound silence, lis today
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 De Profundis
hV
the seeming corpse could hear all that was
going on. "You will easily feel how impress
sye was the agony of the living in that stu
alton. At last, amid the murmurs around
him, he distinguished the 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,
sgentlemen," and here the old mans voice
thrilled every listener; ''that young priest is
the man who stands before you today-more
than forty years later-entreating those in
authority not merely to vigilantly enforce
execution of the legal requirements in regard
to bui'ials, but to enact fresh ones that may
prevent the occurrence of irreparable misfor-
tunes.n
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 innovation of mortu-
airy chambers, such as the German and other
nations have adopted, in which the dead are
retained for time before interment. Here
mechanical appliances are SO arranged that
the slightest motion on the part of the buried
would sound an alarm and summon an at
tendant. Since 1928, however, when the sys-
tenn was adopted, not a single case of ap-
parent death has been proved to occur. OF
course this negative evidence cannot be cited
as conclusive either for or against the system.
THE STORY OF GINEvRA.
A celebrated romance of real life, which
has also found curious counterparts more or
less authenticated in all lands and periods, is
the Florentine story of Ginevra. Married
against her inclination in the year 400 to
francesca degli Agolanti the one of her two
lovers who loved her least Ginevra was
buried alive during trance which looked
like death. At midnight she awoke and,
horror struck, made her way out of the vault
to her husbands 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 a ghost, and repulsed her
with 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 Rondinelli, and dragged
herself to his doorstep.
He answered her timid knock himself, and
though startled at the CHASTITY vision, calmly
inquired what the spirit wanted with him.
Tearing her shroud from her face, Ginevra
exclaimed: II am no spirit, Antonio! l am
that Ginevra you once loved, who was buried
yesterday-buried alive!" and fell swooning
into the welcoming arms of her delighted
lover
He took her in, warmed, fed and comfort
ed her, and when she had been nursed back to
health he privately married her. The next
Sunday they appeared together as man and
wife at the cathedral There was universal
CONSERVATION among Ginevra's friends. An
explanation ensued, which satisfied all but
the lady's first husband, who insisted that
the original marriage had not been dissolved.
The case was referred to the bishop, who de-
cided in favor of Rondinelli, on the unscien-
tifc but none the less POLITICALLY satisfying
ground that the lady had really died once
and been released from all former ties The
first husband was even obliged to pay over
to Rondnelli the dowry he had received with
his bride.
Now, to be at once slangy and Hibernian,
this story was a chestnut before it happened
Fifty years previous something very like it
had been told by Boccaccio in the Ocean
eron," and back of Boccaccio the story can
be traced fan into the mists of antiquity. So
true is it that history repeats itself, although
skeptlcal historians are too apt to see in that
repetition reason for distrust.
According to Boccaccio Gentil Carisendi
was in love with Madonna Catalina, the wife
OF Niccoluccio Caccianemico. The lady died,
as it was thought and was buried, and the
lover going to lament her in the tomb and to
give her the kiss which had been denied him
in her lifetime, found that she had been
buried alive. He brought her home and
nursed her back to health. Then he gave a
great banquet, to which the husband was in
vited In the midst of the festivities the lady
was ushered into the room. Gentil related
the circumstances to the astonished guests
and asked them whether the lady was not
tightly his. They all agreed she was, Niece.
luccio himself sorrowfully concurring. But
Gentil magnanimously restored her to hel
husband, which, of course, is an unwarrant.
able liberty with the facts that Boccaccio
foreshadowed.- York Herald.
The Difference.
Willie NJ, an Ayrshire farmer, was some
what remiss in attending divine service, and
his parish minister, on one of his pastoral
visits, took occasion to refer to it in rather
pointed manner Willie excused himself on
the score of advancing years, but his spirit
ual guide would not condone the offense on,
chat ground.
"That will scarcely do, William, for 1 OBJ
serve you are very regular in your attend
ance at market every Friday"