The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-06-18
DEAD Or ALIVEf
4 Budget of Eerie Stories About Pre-
mature Burisls. .
Frora fIe Ne1e YORK ReTrId.


in the French Senate scene in real life
that would have been voted improbable on
the stage.
A petition had been presented pointing
out the dangers Of hasty interlnsnts and
suggesting measures for their prevention
NJ de la GueronnIere proposed ID shetye II
But the venerable Cardinal Donnet, Arcn-
bishop Of Bordeaux, arose IN support OF the
petition.
dis argument was loag and interesting.
He mad himself, he said, while yet cure,
saved several persons from being buried
alive. He had seen a man taken from MS
coffin aud restored to health He had seen
the body of young lady laid out for dead,
the attendants covering her face as ne en-
tered, yet allowing him TO observe 50 much
as convinced him she was not dead, but
sleeping. With loud voice he cried out
| that he was come to save her.
"You do rot see me, perhaps" be said,
but you hear what | am saying"
And she did hear His voice reached her
numbed sensations. She made a mighty
| effort and woke into life
THAT young girl, u said the archbishop, in
the midst of profound silence, ''is to-day
wife, the mother Of children and the chief
happiness Of two of the most dis
| tinguished families in Paris
A THRILLING STORY.
|
more impressive story to tell. In 1926 a
young priest tainted in the pulpit and was
given u0 for dead He was measured for
the coffin, the funeral bell was tolled, the
| De Profundis was recited by Episcopal lips.
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 murInurs around him, he distinguished
the voice of one known to him from child
hood. That voice produced 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 here the old mans voice
thrilled every listener; "that young priest
is the man who stands before you to-day
more than forty years later-entreating
| those in 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 Of irrep-
arabic 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 event
uauy adopted. But the French, like the
| English, have always resisted the innova-
tion of mortuary chambers, such as the
German and other nations have adopted, in
which the dead are retained for time be-
fore interment. Here mechanical appli-
ances are so arranged that the slightest
motion on the part Of the buried would
sound an alarm and summon an attendant.
Since 1928, however, when the system was
adopted, not a single case of apparent death
has been proved to occur. OF course this
negative evidence cannot be cited as con-
elusive either for or against the system.
PREMATURE BURIALs IN HISTORY.
History is full of Instances of burial dur
ing suspended animation, many OF which
from their grewsome and startling charac-
ter have passed into literature. Duns
Scotus, known as the Subtle, is said to have
been buried while in fit, in the absence of
his servant and of all who knew 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 ali the evidence
of a terrible struggle, one hand being Bit
ten OFF and half eaten. 1t was no doubt
the finding of other corpses in q similar
condition after burial that led to the hide
Gus medieval superstitition of vampires,
which fed upon human bodies.
As dreadful story as any is that of the
Emperor ZenO Isaurus. who, during an at
tack of coma, was put III the mausoleum by
his wicked wife Ariadne, and kept shut up
there till he died, although his cries could
be plainly heard by the attendants.
OF dead-alive ladies brought to conscious
ness by grave robbers, covetous of the
rings upon their cold fingers, nearly every
country has its own story. A well authen-
Gated instance happened at Droghe1a, Ire
land, in the last century, and was brought
back to public attention in 1864 by the
death of one Miss Hardman. of that place.
The lady, who was 90 years of age, left
| hat bnc ,tn11 ha i'd
eight days after the physician pronounced
her dead. Her mother, it appears, had
Fbeen buried while in a trance, and was res.
cued only by the cupidity of the family
butler seeking at night to possesses himself
| of a ring upon her finger.
| celebrated romance of real life, which
has also found curious counterparts more
or less authenticated in all lands and peri
DDS, is the Florentine story of Ginevra
Married against her inclination in the year
400 to francesca dsgG Agolanti, the one oil
| her two lovers who loved her least, Ginevra
was buried alive during q 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 reUendnte CRYING al
his door was aught else than ghost, and
repulsed her with hasty benediction. s.
did her father; So did her uncle. Then
nearly dying In good earnest, she remem-
bered her other and truer lover, Antonio
di Rondinelli, and dragged herself to hi.
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 Glnevra
exclaimed:
II am no spirit, Antoniol l am tina
Ginevra you once loved, who was buried
vesterday-buried alive' aad fell swooning
into the welcoming arms of her delighted
lover.
WHOSE WIFE WAS SHE?
, He took her in. warmed fed and com
forted her, and when she had been nurseC
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 Gin
evra's friends. An explanation ensued
which satisfied all but the lady's first hus
band, who insisted that the original mar
riage had not been dissolved. The case wa;
referred to the bishop, who decided in favor
of r pndinelh. on the uascientiic Tut non,
the less POLITICALLY satisfying ground tina;
the 4dy had really died oncs and beea re
lease from all former ties. The first hus
band was even obliged to pay over t.
Rondineli the dowry he had received with
his bride
Now, to be at once slaugy and Hiberniau,
| this story was chestnut before il hap